Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1365814
4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 28 APRIL 2021 NEWS A bus operated by Malta Public Transport caught fire this morning in Burmarrad, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The company said the incident oc- curred at around 6:30am, while the bus was serving Route 31 in the direction of Bugibba. "All passengers on board were disem- barked safely, and all safety procedures were followed. No one was injured in this incident," Malta Public Transport said. The company said its response team was immediately on-site and an internal investigation to determine the cause of the fire is currently underway. Malta Public Transport said it regret- ted the inconvenience it caused and thanked the authorities for their re- sponse and assistance. Bus burnt to cinders in Burmarrad, passengers unhurt PAUL COCKS ENGLISH language schools have decided to reopen on 1 June, when the country reopens for tourists, even though the government has not yet given its go-ahead. In a statement issued this morn- ing, the Federation of English Language Teaching Schools (FEL- TOM) claimed its members were being discriminated against and that they risked losing out to com- peting markets if they do remain limited to online learning, as per measures introduced to curb the spread of COVID-19. "The English language teaching industry in Malta has, for the past 14 months, experienced financial devastation with no end in sight," Rebecca Bonnici, FELTOM's Chairperson, said. "The industry has been respect- ful of and compliant with govern- ment measures from the start and has been lobbying with govern- ment for financial aid for weeks to ensure that the businesses, which contribute so much to Malta's economy, will survive." ELT schools have already re- ceived 10,711 bookings for the second and third quarter of this year, with an average stay of three weeks per student. FELTOM claims those reserva- tions could be lost if the schools do not open their doors on 1 June. It said that the extended closure that continued to be imposed on English language schools led to 2,124 cancellations. Schools also reported an additional 2,849 Eng- lish language learners who had postponed their travel plans in- definitely. "We feel that if the ELT indus- try continues to be discriminated against, these 10,711 bookings, together with the potential 2,807 that have postponed their travels, will be lost to competing markets which have started to open their doors to ELT students, effectively putting the last nails in the indus- try's coffin," Bonnici said. She said that members had been incessantly marketing themselves and their courses, leading to pos- itive results. Markets being targeted by FEL- TOM's member schools include Germany, France, Italy, Switzer- land, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Colom- bia, Chile, Japan, Russia, South Korea and Turkey. Besides the financial losses in- curred by the schools during the pandemic, other service providers such as school employees, accom- modation providers, host fami- lies, were also severely affected, In 2019 alone, the total spend of ELT students in Malta was close to €200 million. English language schools' ultimatum: We are opening in June The Federation of English Language Teaching Schools says its members have been discriminated against by measures introduced to combat COVID-19 and that schools will reopen on the day Malta opens its doors to tourists again