EL PROCESO DE LA RET INDIVIDUAL

It is of concern that key education policy-makers who have some power in setting policy direction accept the status quo, and appear to be led rather than leading in policy formation. Tolerance is a normative principle that each of the policy-makers interviewed subscribed to within a continuum of inflection from the more accom- modating ideas of the CE of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality to the ‘smallness’ of the perspective of the Chair of the Secretariat for Catechesis. A cautious approach to toleration is justified by reference to the burdens of smallness, to Catholic historical traditions, and to constitutional obligations amongst others.

The Chair of the Secretariat for Catechesis31 did not think that the expansion of the

state-dependent church school sector would have a negative impact on the education of ethnic minorities or immigrants, arguing that from “my experience, it doesn’t seem that the composition or the mixture in faith schools is different from that in State schools”. Uncomfortable with the exclusion of non-Catholic children from RE, his response is that “the State should provide an alternative”. Repeating the official line, however, he thinks that such a provision could not be made “on a technical point”; the populations of pupils requiring these alternative RE programmes would be too small to make them feasible.

Ok, so according to the Permanent Secretary, when he was asked this question in front of the UN Committee on Human Rights, the official position of the Government was: ‘It’s a technical point, if we have enough students, we will provide for other forms of religious education’. That was the official answer.

With this, the Chair argued directly against any constitutional changes unless the composition of the populations had changed dramatically. That the majority could, together with minorities, reconsider what it means to be ‘Maltese’ cannot be contem- plated; to be Maltese is to have a “Catholic identity”.

Again, the Constitution should reflect the will of the majority. As soon as the majority ... the majority in the sense of ... not a simple majority, I mean, the will of the population. So if the population has a Catholic identity, not just a religious practice etc., I don’t find any problems with that. However, the Constitution does actually try to take into consideration other minority groups.

The Dean of the Faculty of Education32 _{at the University of Malta makes reference}

to “smallness” when referring directly to the Muslim minority, ironically capturing how Muslims are both visible and invisible. In her opinion, Malta is not sufficiently heterogeneous to warrant a radical revision of policy.

Somehow, although we have spoken about heterogeneity, you know, in this respect I think – maybe I’m wrong – we’re still pretty much homogenous. Although, you know, we speak about ... Yes, there are Muslims, they’re not that apparent at all.

Even for this actor the lack of official statistics allowed her to doubt the size, and thereby, the claims of this constituency.

But how many immigrant children do we actually have? I know that the Education Direc- torate – it still was a division then – we had one of our ex-students as a teacher, who was doing work with immigrant children. When I had questioned her about it or asked for more information about it, at one stage I think she told me that it had stopped because there weren’t more immigrant children in the state schools.

However, the Dean is extremely concerned about the lack of a policy for mother tongue learning, noting how despite legal obligations, such as the Migrant Workers (Child Education) Legal Notice 259 of 2002, “this is where the pitfall is”. She recognises that the state can bypass its obligations on the grounds of ‘smallness’.

I believe that it’s in the regulations that they have the right to at least get classes in their mother tongue, but when I had searched further it was as long as there were a group, ten, twenty, whatever. And this is where the pitfall is. You might get one child from – I don’t know – ex-Yugoslav countries, one child from here, one child from there. So where is mother tongue maintenance going for these children?

The CE of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality had personal views that could be considered to be of egalitarian tolerance: “diversity is good, is benefi- cial”. She argued that an interfaith RE would benefit all pupils; it is “telling somebody that it’s ok to have a faith, to follow your faith, but it’s also ok to tolerate and respect other people’s faiths”. Whilst recognising that in the short term faith schools may offer minority faith pupils solutions to the present assimilationist situation in state and other schools, “segregation” is more “negative” than positive; “I really think they need to come together”. As “tax-payers”, ethnic minorities and immigrants have a right to have a say in policy formation and a right to services designated for them. Reflecting on how the Constitution could be “widened to include Catholic and other religions”, the CE concludes that “it will bring major reactions”; she is not sure that “these reactions are the way forward”. On the one hand, she acknowledges the long arm of ‘tradition’, on the other, that Maltese society has now changed, and the Con- stitution should reflect this change.

Maybe we should no longer be keeping it as the state religion. However, we know from a historical perspective how life has developed in Malta in a certain way and we need to acknowledge where we are coming from. If we are looking towards a diverse society, a mul- ti-cultural society, we need to stop and rethink the situation.

How this ‘rethink’ is to occur is not clear; the NCPE works to eradicate individual and institutional ‘race’ and religious discrimination but it does not lobby policy-makers to develop an egalitarian tolerance.

For the Commissioner of Children, who admitted that she had not “had the time” to consider the rights of ethnic minorities and immigrants, the present situation is delicate. Acknowledging that a Catholic ethos permeates all of school life and not only RE, the Commissioner recognises that this does not award respect and recognition. Dubious about whether policy guidelines were in place, the default method of allow- ing the school principal discretion in decisions as to what should be the educational rights and experiences of these children appeared unfair.

However, I don’t know if there is a policy. For example, from Education. And it would be interesting to know, if Education, the Ministry, if some policy has been issued on this. It isn’t fair because to leave it completely in the hands of the decisions and discretion of the Head of School depends very much on her beliefs, and I mean, the way she thinks about this. So I think there should be General Guidelines. A policy, you give a bit of leeway so that whoever can … the General Guidelines have to be there, and they have to be respected all over.