Watch: ‘Teachers Need More Authority’ – MEP Alex Agius Saliba Speaks About ‘Unthinkable’ State Of School Discipline
Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba has insisted that a larger sense of discipline must be introduced into classrooms, with teachers given a greater sense of authority.
“I’m not pointing fingers at teachers or calling for a return to the days of teachers using the ruler as a form of punishment, but teachers need to operate in an environment where they have more authority,” Agius Saliba said during a discussion show on ONE TV’s Paperscan last Sunday.
“Children must look up to their teachers, which is something that the Malta Union of Teaches has been talking about a lot. We’ve seen situations where teachers correct children and children react by assaulting them, things we wouldn’t even have dream of doing when I was a student. Discipline and enforcement are important.”
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Three days after Agius Saliba passed these comments, a student at the Sannat Primary School assaulted a teacher and broke his arm.
The MEP passed these remarks during a debate about Maltese youths and whether the adult imprisonment age should be lowered from 16 to 18, a discussion triggered by a gang attack in Valletta.
Arguing against lowering the imprisonment age, Agius Saliba suggested there are a number of factors that could lead youths to become more violent – including time spent on social media, a change in their physical social scenery and a general lack of enforcement.
“Youths spent two years in an online ecosystem due to COVID-19 and digital platforms have now become their world,” he said. “When you’re online it seems as though everything is allowed, even if it is illegal on the streets. Online, you can say what you want, act the bully and target vulnerable people.”
He added that the social environment for teens has changed in recent years, stating that they are now more likely to hang out on the streets rather than spend a night in Paceville.
Finally, Agius Saliba highlighted that Malta suffers from an enforcement problem.
“Let’s be frank here. We have loads of procedures but when it comes to enforcement, I think we can do a lot more to introduce that sense of discipline.”
Cover photo: Left: PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba, Right: Stock image of a classroom
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