One of the most obvious differences between private, church and state schools in Malta is the variation in usage of the two national languages: Maltese and English. The general trend is that state schools mostly make use of Maltese and private schools mostly make use of English. Church schools tend to have roughly equal degrees of usage between the two languages. The result of this is that students’ levels of capability in the two languages will vary depending on what type of school they attended.

A total of 169 individuals participated in this survey, with 81 of them having attended a church school, 48 having went to a private school, and the remaining 40 went to a state school.

According to the results of my survey, 47.5% of state school respondents reported that Maltese was the most commonly used language of instruction (the language that the teacher uses to teach), and 37.5% reported that it was an equal mix of both. Church schools do tend to slightly favour English (33.3%) over Maltese (24.7%) but most use both (42%). However, private schools take the language disparity to another extreme. A staggering 96% of private school respondents reported that English was the most commonly used language of instruction, and only a very tiny minority of 4% reported that there was an equal mix of both.

This came as no surprise to me. At my school, every single lesson (except for the Maltese lesson itself) was conducted in English. So were all assemblies, masses, and school plays. The grade average for our Maltese exams were always lower than that of other subjects. One time our headmaster sent out an email to all parents practically begging them to speak to their children in Maltese because throughout our daily lives we were only being exposed to the language for 40 minutes a day (the length of one lesson) and students were just simply not learning how to speak their own language. Such an outcome is both shocking and embarrassing. How can one send their child to an expensive institution with the goal of giving them a better education, only for them to graduate many years later lacking one of the most basic of skills necessary to be a functioning member of Maltese society?

Looking back, I wonder if anyone had written back to the headmaster demanding that more lessons be taught in Maltese. It sounds like a simple solution, but since a good number of foreigners send their children to private schools for the exact reason outlined above, it is very unlikely that this will happen.

On the other hand, it is worth noting that state schools have the opposite problem whereby students graduate from school not having a good command of English, which is just as much of a setback (if not more) than not having a good command of Maltese. According to my survey, 57.5% of state school respondents reported that it was common for students to not have a good command of English. This is of course a problem, especially considering the fact that state school students make up a much larger percentage of the population than private school students, and good knowledge of English is very necessary for furthering one’s education at university where that is the official language of instruction.

It seems that in church schools, incompetency in the two languages is more evenly distributed. When asked if it was common for students to not have a good command of the respective languages, 23.5% responded in the affirmative for Maltese and 21% for English. While these numbers are relatively low, they are still nowhere near a perfect result.

Students need to graduate school with a good knowledge of both languages, not one or the other. For a country that prides itself on bilingualism, perhaps we should start looking into how our school system creates such disastrous linguistic divisions. And with private school kids solely making use of English, it is no wonder that English has been dubbed ‘the language of the elite’.

Of course, due to the fact that private schools cost thousands of euros per year in tuition, it comes as no surprise that a good number of students who attend come from rich families (not all of them of course, but a good chunk). I personally am a bit sceptical of this socially acceptable form of segregation as it breeds a culture of elitism. My survey revealed that 62.5% of private school attendees were told that they attended the best school in Malta, in comparison to 40.7% of church school attendees and 27.5% of state school attendees.

According to a European Commission report, students attending a private school in Malta are likely to be two years more advanced in their learning when compared to a state school. It is unclear whether this is a result of private school attendees being from richer and more educated families, or a result of the private school itself offering better education. It is likely that they both factor into it. Regardless, the report says that equality of opportunity poses challenges since socioeconomic status has a major impact on students’ academic performance and consequently raises the likelihood that they will experience poverty and social isolation in the future.

The problem is that instead of addressing this issue, politicians simply send their kids to private schools. The trend of Prime Ministers and other Ministers not wanting to send their kids to state schools is incredibly alarming. If they believe that a state school is not good enough for their children, perhaps they should work towards fixing that instead of shrugging their shoulders and going ‘not my kid, not my problem’.

I could go on and on about the results of my survey. For example, one thing I noticed in particular is that church schools seem to lack the sports facilities found in state and private schools, and this could be due to the fact that all-girls schools do not make such facilities a priority. However, it would take an entire thesis to explore every single discrepancy, so for now I will leave it at that.

This article was written by an independent writer whose views are not associated with The Third Eye. The Third Eye strives to be the student’s voice, and that entails giving them a platform to voice their opinions.

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University of Malta together with the Gender Equality and Sexual Diversity Committee held a survey about sexual harassment at University. The survey received a great number of responses, with students and faculty members alike recounting their experiences on sexual harassment.  

The survey received 72.4% replies from students, 14.5% of academics replied, and 13.1.% from admin and support. Within this survey, 68.4% of the replies were from females, 29.6% from males, and 2% from non-binary students and staff. 

University shared their findings during a zoom meeting on ‘The killing of Paulina – The scourge of sexual and gender based violence’. Here, they not only showed the statistics of the survey, but also raised awareness about different forms of sexual harassment. The event showcased an important mission statement: Sexual Harassment is not always when someone is touched inappropriately, but also when sexual comments or gestures are made towards a person. 

Furthermore, the study asked its participants if they consider the following statements to be sexual harassment or not:

31% answered Yes to ‘Do you know of anybody who has suffered sexual harassment at University?‘, while 68.8% answered ‘No’. These findings shared in the event carry enormous benefits for students and faculty members; especially those with no direct experience with sexual harassment. Seeing that the majority of responders were women, we now have a clear guide to better educate ourselves in identifying signs of sexual harassment and reporting them. 

Apart from the survey, focus groups and interviews were held to further gather information on the matter. From these interviews, it has been concluded that 3 out of 15 participants experienced physical sexual harassment, while the rest were all victims of catcalling. One participant stated being groped in the canteen, while others experienced harassment during student activities. 

Potential victims 

University highlighted students and faculty members alike who are more at risk of experiencing sexual harassment:

“It’s not all men”. Granted- it is not. We do not fear a man walking behind us for being a man, we fear that man walking behind us because we do not know who. But what has society done to address the fear?……We talk about what women should do, numerous comments that women should invest in self-defence classes, women should wear less provocative clothing when out for a run, women should pretend to be on their phone whilst walking alone at night- As if its a woman’s responsibility to not be raped and murdered.

Alex Gaglione, KSU’s Social Policy Officer, pointed out

Alex is absolutely on point. We do not fear a man walking behind us for being a man, we fear the Social Complacency and Cultural appropriation, which is the major issue. Men exercise their contemporary social right to catcall and harm. The enabling of this event is on its own a social Failure. The language and behaviour says it all. Social Systematic Sexism exists, enabling a dangerous mentality.

What to do when witnessing someone being harassed 

• Check in – see if the target is okay 
  
• Call it out – declare the statement of behaviour offensive and explain why 

• Report – access incident reporting system or report to management 

Should you or anyone you know fall victim to harassment, contact victimsupport.police@gov.mt for support and guidance.

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Students were mostly bothered by the opening times and remarkably more by the storage space and “No Bags” Policy.

An overwhelming number of students told us that they would like the library to have longer opening hours and they were also greatly in favour of a prospect of a 24/7 open library. The latter would particularly benefit students during exam periods.

Regarding storage, there was an absolute consensus between respondents that there is nowhere near enough space for students’ belongings, that the “No Bags” policy is inefficient, and that the Library blatantly protects its books more than the students’ belongings.

Students are generally insecure about their belongings being subject to theft as they are left unattended. Multiple respondents also recounted that they had their belongings’ stolen. That said many asserted that there is simply not enough security. Many opted for various solutions, with the majority proposing either a complete withdrawal of the “No Bags” Policy, or simply providing bigger and more secure storage spaces, like lockers, as opposed to pigeon holes.

The following is an in depth analysis:

How often do you visit the Library?

The major part of the participants visit the library daily, amounting to 99 out of 241. Weekly visitors amount to 83 which is still a good number. Only 25 students marked monthly and 34 students marked less frequently. Taking the participants from the “Daily” category and from the “Weekly” category there is about 182 students that visit the library often. From this survey, one can see that only 59 students do not attend as regularly.

Purpose of visiting the library?

It is no doubt that the dominating category is “Study” amounting to 200 students out of 241 participants. The second being “Research” with that of a score of 29 while “Relaxing” and “Group Work” got 7 and 5, respectively.

From this survey, it gives the impression that quite a number of students find the library as a space to focus and finish your work rather than a place to relax or to do group work. There might be other places that these students find much more relaxing and comfortable to do these kinds of activities.

How satisfied are you with the library overall?

Several participants feel quite neutral towards the library. The scale leans more to neutral going to very satisfied, amounting to 197 students overall satisfied. Around 44 participants feel quite dissatisfied regarding the library.

How satisfied are you with the library’s opening hours?

It seems that there are many different views regarding this question; 100 participants are quite satisfied with the opening hours; 92 participants are quite dissatisfied with the opening hours and 49 participants are neutral.

Would you be interested in longer opening hours?

Although the responses from the previous question were very close to each other, various participants still feel longer opening hours would be best [212 participants out of 241]. These are the UoM Library’s opening hours:

Is a 24/7 library something you’d be interested in?

203 participants out of 241 said they would be interested in a 24/7 library, 38 disagreed.

Does the library provide enough storage space for your belongings?

It seems that the majority of the participants feel that the library doesn’t provide enough storage space. 36 participants feel neutral regarding this situation and only 19 feel satisfied with the storage space.

Do you agree with how the library handles your belongings?

169 participants do not agree with this statement while 72 agree with this. There were many valid and interesting reasons when the participants were asked to give a reason to those that marked “No”.

Insights

The main point of several students was that if they cannot take their belongings with them, at least provide them with sufficient lockers and much more storage space. The pigeon holes don’t provide enough safety as it is still very accessible and can still be easily stolen by any other student. Not to mention, the lockers are full the majority of the time and many bags are left on the floor.

Taking everything out of your bag and having it to carry everything with you through the library is seen as a major inconvenience to many of the students. They state it would be much easier if they could just take their bag – they feel that the library treats them as criminals (Library fears that they will put books in their bags).

The students are well aware that the library provides them with bags to carry their belongings with them throughout their visit but this is still seen as an inconvenience – having to take your belongings from one bag and into another.

A number of students also mentioned that if a student is planning to spend an entire day at the library, it is very inconvenient for them to leave the bag downstairs especially if you have to go up 2 floors while leaving your bag unattended for a long period of time.

Participants stated that the reason they avoid going to the library is because they fear that their belonging will get stolen – some also said that their own friends were robbed while visiting the library. Students were frustrated and feel the library is taking the easy way out. They feel no one is doing something regarding the theft that happens almost everyday [acc. to a participant] and the library is not provided with enough resources and security to avoid any theft. There is lack of security and proper security systems/cameras should be installed.

Do you agree with the “No Bags” policy?

176 participants do not agree with the “No Bags” policy while 65 participants agree. This is interesting to see as when the participants were asked if they agree with how the library handles their belongings, 169 participants said no. This means, 7 students agree that their belongings are protected but they still do not agree with the “No Bags” policy.

Do you think the library protects the books or your belongings more?

The majority of the participants agreed that the books are much more protected than their belongings. Since there is the “No Bags” policy, the books are much more protected than the belongings as one cannot just simply put a book in the bag but would have to carry it till they arrive next to their bag. Thus, making it hard for someone to steal books from the library.

Do you feel uneasy leaving your belongings in the library’s entrance as they are subject to theft?

Considering the responses that were recorded before in the “If your previous answer is “No”, why?” it’s clear that a good number of students feel uneasy leaving their belongings in the library’s entrance. As already mentioned before, those students that have to go up floors to study feel much more uneasy with this situation.

Student’s suggestions, summarised

Various students gave a lot of suggestions to help resolve the storage issue. The main statement that the students mostly focused on is that there should be more lockers and lockers on every floor. A few stated that they should ditch the pigeon holes and create space for bigger and better lockers. A student suggested that lockers shouldn’t be necessarily in the library, even the student’s house could work. They also added that the entrance should be further extended inwards as there is space to do so, allowing more room for storage. KSU already have lockers which are rented out and can be used for library purposes, as well as other storage.

One participant wrote quite a lengthy suggestion. They stated that the library should invest in padlocks for the bags. The idea is that students should be given a padlock each upon entering the library and lock it with the zippers. The student should be given a key corresponding to his padlock so that, he or she could unlock the padlock and give it back to the receptionist before leaving. There should be one key/padlock and that key should be given to the student for him/her to carry while at the library. The doors of the library should have a security system installed which goes off if someone tries to leave the library with the padlock still attached to the zippers of his/her bag. Consequently, if a thief tries to leave the library with someone else’s bag or belongings, he/she would be caught red-handed straight away.

Another idea by a participant stated was having a bag tag system. This is where you hand over your bag to the librarian, and the bag is tagged with a number which is equivalent to your ticket number. Therefore, when you are ready you can pick up your bag using the ticket.

Many of the students still feel that there should be no “No Bags” policy and the library should let them enter with their bags. A few stated that they are ready to prove their belonging are there [the tagging system might come in handy in this case]

A student stated that alarms on the books should start being installed. Reason being; if someone steals a book it will ring at the metal detector. One expressed that students should be allowed to start working in the library.

Analysis and text by Maya Pollacco, image by UoM

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