Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/700383
6 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 6 JULY 2016 News CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 "Home- school kids have the opportunity to socialise with their family, neigh- bours the community around them and also have plenty of time for ex- tra curricular activities and meet ups with other home-schoolers," she said, rebutting claims that the teaching method would ultimately lead to social exclusion and go against efforts towards social inclu- sion. "As one of the parents who worked hard to see home-schooling legal- ized locally, I am very pleased at this step," she said, adding that all the families who have worked for this to happen, have their child's best interest at heart. Giuffre went on to stress that the system would also be treated with attention to ensure that no abuse would occur. Similarly, speaking at a public consultation on Monday night, Education Minister Evar- ist Bartolo reassured that home- schooling would not mean that par- ents could teach whatever they wished to their children. "Educators will still re- quire a teaching war- rant, and each indi- vidual case will be assessed to ensure that home-schooling is always, and only provided in the best interest of the child," Bartolo stressed. "The government is in favour of allowing home- schooling, but it must be done with the students' best interests at its core," he said, adding that the de- cision to create the possibility was an attempt to alleviate the concerns of some parents who believed that home-schooling would be the best option for their children. Similarly, Giuffre went on to ex- plain that parents who were in fa- vour of home-schooling ultimately felt that personalized learning for individual students creates an opportunity for excellence that schools cannot cater for. "Some members of the public are likening h o m e - s c h o o l families with ex t rem ism. This is very h u r t f u l and unlike the inclu- sive soci- ety that we should all be part of," she said, adding that the parents in question had done a lot of research before com- ing to such a decision. "It is a huge commitment and re- sponsibility and none of us takes this lightly, and bringing Education to the 21st Century does resonate with the concept of home-school- ing," Giuffre went on. She further illustrated her argument by point- ing out that home-schooling had been recognized for its merits in the majority of developed countries, including France, the UK, the USA and Australia among others. However, the argument seems to have even academics divided, with some arguing that the option should indeed be made available to those who were unsatisfied with the local schooling system, while others counter that the only way to improve the teaching available is to tackle the challenges head-on, rath- er than to flee from them. "My view is that education shouldn't just be based on content and skills learned, but that so- cialising with dif- ferent people, from different b a c k g r o u n d s is an essen- tial part of the educational pro- cess," St. Albert the Great College headmaster Mario Mallia. Mallia goes on to explain that even if parents insist that home-schooled children could socialise with fellow home-school- ers, then the risk was that children would ultimately be confined to one social group. "When children go to school, they meet people from different settings, and they learn to face the challenges that this might present in a safe en- vironment," he explained. "Social inclusion isn't just for those with a disability, and the idea of individualisation goes against these efforts." Mallia said that although there were some excep- tional cases where he supported the method, like for children whose parents travel a lot, or for others who are unwell, the lo- cal system should avoid falling into the trap of "creat- ing rules for the ex- ceptions." Responding to the con- cerns voiced by parents about the level of education available in local schools, Mallia ex- plained that it would serve children and the community better to ques- tion wherein the difficulties lie, and to participate in identifying ways to address these issues. "The answer to solving the is- sues that the sector is facing is not to hide away from the rest of soci- ety," he said, stressing that placing children in an essentially sterilized environment could lead to an elitist and exclusive way of life. Mallia also took issue with the idea of creating an "individual- ised" educational experience. He explained that the social and com- munity context goes against this view and that flushing people out of the social context could not hope to prepare individuals for the realistic context. "Ultimately I believe that this view depends on your definition of edu- cation," he said, reiterating that the desire for an individualised expe- rience could lead to practices like streaming, and hinder the creation of values like respect and inclusion. Headmaster warns against 'creating rules for the exceptions' 'Home- schooling would not mean that parents could teach whatever they wished to their children' Abigail Giuffre Mario Mallia Speaker raps Labour for misquoting opposition TIM DIACONO SPEAKER Anglu Farrugia called on Labour newspa- per Kullhadd to retract in its next edition quotations falsely attributed to Opposi- tion MP Marthese Portelli. Portelli had called on the Speaker to take action, after Kullhadd falsely claimed on Sunday that she had criti- cised the appointment of Ruben Abela as CEO of the new Environment and Re- sources Authority. The article alleged dispute within the PN parliamen- tary group after Opposition MPs Claudette Buttigieg and Charlo Bonnici had praised Abela on Facebook, while Portelli had "said in Parlia- ment that qualified people were overlooked for the new PN MP fails in last-ditch call to stop decriminalisation of religious vilification TIM DIACONO OPPOSITION MP Jason Azzopardi ultimately proved unable to con- vince justice minister Owen Bonnici to retract his proposal to decrimi- nalise the vilification of religion. During the final committee debate on Bill 113, Azzopardi warned that the proposed law could pose a risk to public order, but Bonnici brushed off his fears and argued that it will safeguard artistic freedom. The clause passed the committee debate – with the four government MPs voting in favour and the three Opposition MPs voting against – and the Bill will now only need to pass through the formal third read- ing before becoming law. During the debate, Owen Bonnici proposed an amendment to the law that criminalizes hate speech, so as to render it more clear that religious hate speech will not be tolerated. While Azzopardi supported the amendment, he warned that a fun- damental difference exists between hate speech and vilification. He insisted that his opposition to the law was not due to his faith, and indeed suggested that the law be ex- tended to criminalise the vilification of atheism. "All religions should be ready to be exposed to criticism and ridicule, but for goodness' sake, vilification is worse than simple criticism and satire." Azzopardi also questioned wheth- er artists also feel stifled by the laws that criminalize the mockery of the Maltese flag, sigil and President – punishable with three months' im- prisonment. "Once the law passes, it will no longer be a crime to paint a picture of a rabbi, priest and imam sodo- mizing each other, but it will still be a crime to insult the President. "If the motif behind the law is to protect artists, then has the time now come to decriminalize such crimes too? What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander…" He noted that the vilification of religion is a crime punishable with imprisonment in Finland, Italy, Aus- tria, Spain, Germany and Denmark, and that the Danish Parliament voted to stick with the current law last year for the sake of maintaining public order. At one point, Azzopardi suggest- ed that a provision be inserted into the vilification law to clearly specify that artists should be exempt from prosecution. However, Bonnici retorted that it shouldn't be up to the police and the courts – who he repeatedly de- scribed as "Big Brother" – to decide what constitutes art. "Do we want to live in a society, in which Big Brother determines whether something is legally artis- tic or not?" he questioned. "Free- dom of expression must be as far- reaching as possible, with as many opportunities as possible for artists to get their message across with- out the fear that Big Brother will take action against them, but with boundaries to safeguard people from hate speech. "I want to live in a society in which freedom of expression flour- ishes. It's a question of principle; the Opposition is bringing tech- nical arguments to the table as to why freedom of expression should be hindered, while the government is trying to break down barriers to freedom of expression, which we believe is a fundamental right." The Bill was inspired by the case of authors Alex Vella Gera and Mark Camilleri, who were hauled to court in 2009 on charges of ob- scenity for having written a sexually explicit story in a student newspa- per. Camilleri, now chairman of the National Book Council, was present at Parliament to witness the Bill overcome its final technical hurdle. Apart from decriminalizing the vilification of religion, the same Bill also proposes the decriminalisation of pornography and the criminali- sation of revenge porn.