E-Learning – Owen Bonnici
The Internet has significantly changed how we communicate with one another as well as how we access, share and facilitate information. The COVID-19 has resulted in schools being shut all over the world. The World Economic Forum states that globally, over 1.2 billion children in 186 countries were out of the classroom. Including our own. This prompted the worldwide rise of what is called e-Learning, more popularly known as online teaching or online learning.
As a result, education has changed dramatically during these COVID-19 times, with teaching and learning undertaken remotely and on digital platforms, not only across most countries of the world, but also significantly in Malta.
With this situation on our lap, I reiterate that compared to other countries we started taking action immediately and schooling continued at all levels. There were also, however, challenges to overcome and we helped students without internet access and/or technology means to participate in digital learning.
Our site Teleskola.mt is a marked success, with over 1000 lessons and activities for students from early ages up till the end of secondary school. It also caters for parents whose children suffer from dyslexia, who can also make use of this portal in order to communicate with experts who can help them in their children’s learning processes.
Teleskola.mt also has easy tools in order to facilitate communication between students, parents and educators.
The importance of online resources also cropped up during the recent event where, together with the MUT, I announced the launch of Fondazzjoni Sagħtar, which includes various projects; publications, training and activities for the teaching profession. The Fondazzjoni Sagħtar portal,
saghtar.org.mt, already has 1,300 registrations from individuals who are at present using the site.
This foundation will safeguard the growth of the teaching profession, enhance the level of education and above all the services provided to the students. This Government has always worked in the best interest of educators and students, so that they are given the best opportunities to improve their skills and abilities. I would like to encourage more people to take an interest and register on this site, which I have no doubt several educators and students will find useful.
I thank all educators who are giving their utmost during these unprecedented times we are living in due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and laud their dedication to the continuation of their students’ learning through online teaching due to the abrupt closure of all schools and educational institutions.
Fondazzjoni Sagħtar intends to take part in relevant programs and projects as well as organize courses, seminars and activities for educators, to enable them to continue to grow professionally as part of their professional development, amongst other projects. After the official registration of the foundation with the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector, the foundation’s board started working immediately to attain this goal.
With the closure of schools all maintenance personnel embarked on an intensive works programme for maintenance, renovations and regeneration in schools and educational institutions.
Apart from these, works on the Qawra new Primary School are progressing, with various works underway at a fast pace to get the school ready for the next scholas
Fondazzjoni Sagħtar intends to take part in relevant programs and projects as well as organize courses, seminars and activities for educators, to enable them to continue to grow professionally as part of their professional development, amongst other projects.
tic year.
Having completed all construction and services, we are now installing soffits, air conditioning units, lifts, stair railings, and walls of the glass in the main facades so that the whole school will be optimally lit with natural light.
This is part of a €12 million investment in our children’s education.
During the past weeks at MCAST a vast maintenance programme also took place. The maintenance personnel within the MCAST precincts and estates department are mainly responsible for the upkeep and maintenance activities of the MCAST main campus in Paola and also of the other three satellite campuses located in Mosta, Qormi and Kalkara.
With a footprint of over 200,000sqm and catering for over 11,000 students and 1,000 members of staff, maintenance is no easy feat. In-house maintenance personnel action around three thousand maintenance requests per year covering various trades ranging from plastering, painting, tiling, woodworking, steel-fabrication to plumbing and electrical installation works.
With students and staff absent from campus due to the COVID19 pandemic, the maintenance department engaged, and continue to engage, in a number of projects and long overdue maintenance works that are usually programmed for execution during the summer recess.
Working in groups of two, so as to limit unnecessary interaction, personnel have been involved in various projects spread over various buildings and institutes.
Apart from finalising ongoing projects, these workers also took up a number of new projects; finance department office partitioning, the creation of a staff room at the Institute for the Creative Arts, and the general maintenance of the agribusiness premises.
Prior to the college reopening, personnel are also engaging with general maintenance and refurbishment of outside landscaped areas and furniture.
In parallel to the activities carried out by the in-house maintenance team, subcontractor personnel are performing ongoing preventive maintenance on air-conditioning and ELV fire and security systems.
Plans are on hand to carry out deep sanitisation of all MCAST premises and to install electronic sanitisation walk-through cabins. This will involve professional disinfectation of all areas (internal and external) which will continue throughout the scholastic year.
As I constantly say, we are doing our utmost in this sector, even in embellishing all schools and educational institutions’ environment, for the holistic satisfaction of all students and educators during their exciting journey in their scholastic years.