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MALTATODAY 7 July 2019

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4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 JULY 2019 KARL AZZOPARDI A group of social NGOs have lambasted comments about "ethnic gangs" by the Com- missioner for Education in his annual report as 'careless' and 'misinformed'. Charles Caruana Carabez expressed concern at the rise of group-bullying by what he termed ethnic gangs in schools, and even at what he claimed were additional rights given to persons with disabilities. Caruana Carabez claimed that the fact that foreign students hailed from war-torn countries and did not speak English or Maltese, was the reason for the rise in bullying. The NGOs, among others, Aditus Foundation, African Media Association, Catholic Voices Malta, and Moviement Grafitti, said the commission- er's recommendations 'serious- ly flawed'. "The Commissioner's analy- sis provides a one-sided per- spective that disregards the growing evidence based on the experiences of migrant and eth- nic minority students in our schools. It is disconcerting that his evaluation appears to be steeped in cultural stereotypes and hearsays that fail to capture the complexity of the context." The NGOs said the experi- ences and realities experienced by students had been over-sim- plified. They said Caruana Carabez ignored the strengths presented by pluricultural and plurilin- gual classrooms. "We believe that a classroom environment embracing different world- views and cultural practices, encourages students to absorb knowledge and skills necessary to navigate an increasingly glo- balised world." They also accused the com- missioner of advocating 'sepa- ration' and 'segregation'. While Caruana Carabez ob- served that new aspects of bullying within ethnic groups could not have been predicted, the NGO said he had failed to note the 2014 national policy on bullying, which states that migrant children and children with an ethnic background were vulnerable and more sus- ceptible to bullying. "The Education Commis- sioner fails to assess whether this policy is achieving its aims in relation to the victims and perpetrators of bullying. He also fails to examine whether any institution is responsible for having failed to respond to a migration phenomenon which was by no means unpredictable or unexpected," the NGOs said. In his report, the Educa- tion Commissioner also seems to misinterpret the nature of fundamental human rights, the NGOs said, when he com- plained of disabled students be- ing granted more rights. "Making an argument for eq- uity rather than equality, he confuses matters by stating that, through equity, persons with disabilities are 'given more rights'. We are keen to under- line that persons with disabili- ties are entitled to exercise all the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights em- bodied in the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities," the NGOs said. "Contrary to the Commis- sioner's understanding, af- firmative action does not re- sult in giving any person more rights." They said no mention of the fundamental human right to education in Caruana Cara- bez's report. "This omission is particularly worrying since the Education Commissioner's role is to empower all students by providing tools against mal- administration, improper dis- crimination or abuse of power." The Office of the Ombuds- man and House of Representa- tives have also been urged to ignore Caruana Carabez's find- ings and recommendations. The NGOs supporting the statement are: Aditus Founda- tion, African Media Associa- tion, Catholic Voices Malta, The Critical Institute, Dean's Office Faculty of Education, Dean's Office Faculty for Social Well- being, Department of Gender Studies, Foundation for Shelter and Support to Migrants, In- tegra Foundation, Isles of the Left, Jesuit Refugee Service, Ko- pin, Malta Emigrants Commis- sion, Moviment Graffitti, The People for Change Foundation, Richmond Foundation, Right 2 Smile, Solidarity with Migrants Group and Spark 15. NEWS Award of Honours and Decorations Malta pays public tribute to Maltese citizens who have distinguished themselves in different walks of life and whose contribution and achievement enrich the general well-being of their fellow countrymen. Any Maltese citizen, a group of persons or a voluntary organisation which is duly enrolled with the Commissioner in terms of the Voluntary Organisation Act may be nominated for the award of an honour on Republic Day. Nominations for 2019 will be received by the Nominations Committee on the prescribed Nomination Form, addressed to the Chairperson, Nominations Committee, Office of the Prime Minister, Auberge de Castille, Valletta VLT 2000, by not later than Wednesday, 7 th August 2019. Nomination forms may be collected from the Office of the Prime Minister, Auberge de Castille, Valletta or downloaded from the website of the Office of the Prime Minister www.opm.gov.mt. For further information, one may contact the Cabinet Office on 22001481. The persons nominated should neither be approached for details, nor informed about their nomination. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Satabank offered an innova- tive online payment channel which allowed small peer-to- peer payments to be made. Prior to setting up in Malta, Satabank's Bulgarian co-own- er Christo Georgiev ran an e-money business in Luxem- bourg. A self-described pio- neer of innovative payment solutions who has worked in the fintech sector since 2000, according to a biogra- phy on one of his company's websites, Georgiev also owns Bulgarian iCard AD, and the Liechtenstein-based myPos AG. Satabank has protested ex- orbitant rates it was being charged by the "competent persons" appointed to take control of its bank, in a for- mal protest lodged with the Malta Financial Services Tri- bunal. Satabank said it was paying members of the in- ternational team up to €689 an hour. "In the context of a small bank that is a Maltese- licensed and regulated credit institution, the above rates are exorbitant and unreason- able. [They] are clearly not in the interest of the bank, nor of its depositors, employees and shareholders. "If such rates were to be maintained unabated, the fees of the competent person will inevitably deplete the bank's capital…" Satabank fined by FIAU NGOs rip apart Caruana Carabez's 'simplistic' claims on ethnic gangs "It is disconcerting that his evaluation appears to be steeped in cultural stereotypes and hearsays that fail to capture the complexity of the context" Education commissioner Charles Caruana Carabez (left)

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