Looks Like Robert Abela’s Pre-Election Promise To Teachers Was Nothing But Bluff
Robert Abela’s pre-electoral pledge to “significantly” increase teachers’ salaries is being exposed as a massive sham.
The Prime Minister had made a clear promise to teachers last March.
“There will be a significant improvement to teacher salaries, you deserve it for all you’re doing for our children,” he had said.
“We will send a clear political signal that salaries must improve significantly. We believe that education is the basis of a new prosperity that we can build together.”
Now it has come to the crunch, the government’s negotiations with the Malta Union of Teachers for an improved collective agreement have broken down and teachers are set to strike on 27th November.
The MUT said the government proposed two offers that were “insulting” to educators and that viewed their job as “cheap labour”. Although it didn’t give further financial details, the head of the Union of Professional Educators, Graham Sansone, told Lovin Malta that the offer on the table was a minimal raise of some 2-3%
If so, that can hardly classify as “significant”, particularly since Malta is facing a serious shortage of teachers. Figures released last year show that only five people are studying to become maths teachers.
“Educators are doing double the work they used to do a few years ago, thanks to never-ending reforms, classes packed with different levels of students, challenges linked to the population increase, continuous assessment, a lack of resources, and other issues,” the MUT said.
Abela now needs to put his money where his mouth is. The constant political talk about how so many of Malta’s problems boil down to its education system means absolutely nothing if teachers aren’t being motivated.
Do teachers deserve a substantial salary increase?
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