The Malta Employers’ Association has called on the Government and the Malta Union of Teachers to seek an “immediate resolution” to the current teachers strike.

They said the dispute is “depriving children of education, and which is also creating hardships for companies and parents who had to reschedule their work commitments without notice.”

MEA called for the government and the unions to find a way to end the “impasse” that is causing so much pain to parents and students, and said they should have planned ahead for any “expected surge” in cases “rather than throwing such matters on the table just before schools were scheduled to open”.

When it comes to online learning, they noted that the Education Ministry said it had achieved “mixed success due to different levels of commitment by teachers, and action should have been taken against a minority that took advantage of the situation, rather than tarnishing everyone with the same brush”.

However, when addressing the union, they urged them to recognise that “the ultimate losers of this situation are the students, who have already suffered disruptions in their education during 2020, and certainly cannot afford a repetition this year”.

Companies can adapt, but it cannot be expected for them to adapt overnight, the association said.

“Under these circumstances, both Government and the union have a shared responsibility to ensure an outcome that meets the interests of students, teachers, parents and their workplaces,” the MEA ended.

What do you think of the MEA’s call for an end to this strike?