“Today, he entered the classroom and referred to me as ‘dil-kerha’ (that ugly one) to joke in front of his friends and then proceeded to refer to me as ‘Andre’,” she wrote. “I warned him to stop but he persisted and I ended up telling him I was going to give him a report.”

“When I told him that, he told me ‘You aren’t a woman’ and I responded that this wouldn’t stop at a report to show him that action would be taken.”

“However, he kept persisting and said ‘It’s as though you’re wearing a wig’. When the bell rang, he called me ‘gay’ before leaving the class. Not only did this student intend to mock me in front of his friends, but he wanted to hurt me too.”

Caruana warned that this wasn’t an isolated incident and that she had recently reported the same student for calling a classmate “gay” just because he was quietly getting ready for class.

She insisted that there must be serious consequences for this student’s behaviour.

“I don’t expect this student to learn a lesson. We can forget about students like him ever learning, at least not in the present.”

“However, there should be appropriate consequences for his behaviour, both as a punishment and as a lesson to his friends who were in class with him and who might have seen him as a ‘hero’ for insulting his teacher. I didn’t punish him with points because I believe it’s more serious than that.”

She also recounted how she had received similar comments from students in the past that she hadn’t reported, and once even found a crude message about her scribbled on a desk.

“I have lost heart that action would be taken, perhaps because I didn’t always find support when I filed reports in the past under different administrations,” she wrote.

“To be clear, the assistant heads have always supported me but I believe that they shouldn’t shoulder the full weight of responsibility themselves in such cases.”

Caruana reminded Said Pace how the school had organised an LGBTIQ+ awareness-raising school activity last November after she had flagged similar cases of bullying to the principal.

“While this event was a big success, we all know that not everyone learns and I therefore appeal that we act differently with students like him. At the end of the day, it isn’t fair for teachers who are there for the service of students to be insulted by these same students.”

Said Pace got back to Caruana that same day to express her solidarity with her and to inform her that she intends to contact an Education Ministry lawyer to find out what action can be taken.

However, five months later, Caruana said she hasn’t heard of any kind of update whatsoever. And although she has since moved to a different school, she said she wants to speak about what happened to raise awareness and make schools aware of these realities.

Lovin Malta asked Said Pace to confirm what legal advice she received from the Education Ministry but she referred us to the Education Ministry, who haven’t responded as of the time of writing.

Do you think schools should take a harsher stance on teacher harassment?