د . إAEDSRر . س

WATCH: Education Minister Defends Absence From Major Conference On Schools’ COVID-19 Rules

Article Featured Image

Education Minister Owen Bonnici defended his decision to not attend the press conference on 2nd September where COVID-19 guidelines for primary and secondary schools were announced, saying it was “a purely technical conference.”

The announcements were made by permanent secretary for the Education Ministry, Frank Fabri, and Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci.

“We wanted that conference to be technical, where one could ask whatever technical questions they wanted to and are then given the necessary answers in a clear, factual, and technical manner – as happened,” Bonnici said.

In response to this, Lovin Malta highlighted that the subject matter of said conference was indeed of national importance.

“I’m always open to discussions with journalists, I have participated in many television and radio programmes,” Bonnici responded.

“I played my part, and I believe that the best thing I could do was to give space for the technicians to give objective and clear facts about the issues concerning the education and health of our children.”

Throughout the conference, Gauci had said that health authorities are promoting a ‘class bubble’ approach, whereby students will spend the entire day with their class group, including in break, so as to limit their contact with other students. Numerous other health guidelines were announced.

However, despite the fact that guidelines for primary and secondary schools have been readily communicated to students and parents, no guidelines for kindergarten, university, sixth form, or MCAST have yet been announced.

Earlier today, the Education Minister stated that these will be published imminently.

“I believe that is the most responsible route,” Bonnici concluded.

“I think it was a good decision for me, and it makes sense.”

What do you make of this?

READ NEXT: Malta Registers 42 New Cases Of COVID-19 And 43 Recoveries

You may also love

View All