Education during WORLD WAR II

Amost noteworthy feature of the War in Malta has been the demand of a considerable body of public opinion for increased and improved educational facilities in Malta after the war”.1 These are the opening words of a World War II report forming part of the hefty file on ‘Education in Wartime Malta’ found within the National War Museum Archives. The file is a window into what happened to the education system in Malta during one of the most turbulent times in history – when the focus should have been more on survival and how to fill up one’s belly, rather than on sitting for examinations and learning one’s arithmetic and history dates. The fact that any form of learning continued is a testament to the spirit of human resilience and the need to impose some sort of routine and structure when all around was in chaos and terror due to the constant bombings and the uncertainty of not knowing what the next week, day or even hour would bring.

The Director of Education in Malta during the war was definitely a man in an unenviable position. The education system in Malta had long been plagued by a number of problems, chief amongst them being the lack of space to accommodate all the children of school age whose parents wanted to send them to school, and the lack of sufficiently trained teachers. This was not surprising as the wages paid for teaching were ludicrously low.2 The then director Albert V. Laferla had in fact talked to the previous Governor of Malta, Charles Bonham Carter about the situation, but by the time war broke out the matter was far from resolved. Laferla has been described by many as a very capable man,3 a man of discipline who believed in the Empire,4 and this is reflected in the way he ran the Education Department during his tenure lasting more than 20 years.

Education had been considered a very important issue when the first general elections were held to elect the first Maltese Government in 1921. The Constitutional Party under Strickland’s leadership had placed the issue on its electoral programme and even though he was not elected to government, he never ceased advocating for improvements in the sector, even though in opposition. The Education Act was passed in 1924. The Act itself was not hailed as a huge step forward, but the number of schools needed to accommodate students had to increase.5 The Compulsory Education Act of 1924 helped to regularise attendance as it decreed that once children were enrolled into school, they could not be withdrawn by their parents until they were 14 years of age, or had passed their final exam.6 In 1939, attendance to primary school was free but not compulsory. About 29,000 students attended but there were more than 13,000 who did not – not because they did not want to attend but mainly because they could not be accepted due to lack of space and shortage of teaching staff.

In Malta, the British Government had always taken a special interest in education – mostly because of the language question. Languages studied in schools were of paramount interest and this at times caused problems for the students. Children were taught English and Maltese in primary school. When they progressed to secondary school, Italian was also compulsory, causing great difficulty for state school students. In a letter dated 21 December 1940, G. Azzopardi complained that primary private schools were teaching the Italian language which put government school students at a disadvantage.7 By the end of the war, changes in syllabus meant that Italian became just another language, similar in importance to Latin and French. In 1939, the Italian language lost its status with regard to being on par with English and Maltese. This was further confirmed when the Regia Aeronautica started raining bombs on the Maltese Islands. School was just about to break up and, thus, the term finished a little earlier.

During summer recess, empty school buildings were taken over as Air Raid Protection Centres and much needed hospitals. Some students were asked to play a prominent role in the defence of Malta. Within the archives of the National War Museum, there is an account by the leader of St Edward’s College Scout Group. In the account, R.K. Brady, the author of the report, describes how he was approached by the Army to ask his troop to assist military authorities by guarding the coastline along

Mtaħleb. The British authorities were expecting the enemy to invade at any moment when war broke out. In the meantime, the Army was still in the process of organising adequate lookouts to cover all of Malta’s coastline. The boys used to camp in tents and were issued rations by the Army. It must have been a huge adventure for these young Scout members. They manned this post for almost 6 weeks, until the enrolled soldiers were assigned to act as watch guards.8

The problem of shortage of space became worse as schools started to be used as refugee centres and as billets for the services. Teachers were assigned the role of Protection Officers, Inspectors in the Special Constabulary, as well as nurses and officers in other services. When schools reopened in September 1940, the problems which had plagued the Education Department since before the war, became even more acute. To make matters worse, 10 schools had been hit during air raids. The Education Department started to rent private premises in order to use the property where children could continue their education.9 The Church also lent spaces available to be used for teaching, and even the Royal Opera House started to be used for educational classes. Alfred Cachia remembers being taught in the old church of Birkirkara and witnessing some four or five funerals during his time there as a student, as at the time, burials were still held within the churches.10

In order to accommodate children under these limitations, schooling was offered on a part-time system. Children attended either in the morning or in the afternoon, which meant that they could only follow a ‘restricted’ syllabus. Parents complained about this. A case in point was a letter by a dockyard worker, appearing on the Times of Malta in 1942, whereby he lamented that his older son had not had the opportunity to sit for his examination which would allow him to continue his studies at Secondary Level, while his other son was only attending school in the mornings.11 Classrooms had to be close to shelters, for obvious reasons. A number of teachers continued with their lessons underground

School hall used as hospital, Inv. No.: WMA/PHO/MSC/40 when the air raid alarm sounded, even though there was no electricity in most of these shelters.

Angelo Grima of Senglea, a teacher who began teaching in Birkirkara where he had moved as a refugee, describes the system as makeshift and says he never gave any lessons while in the shelters.12 Children also had to share their textbooks. Other people taking cover in the shelter would listen in on the lessons and sometimes even interrupt. This state of affairs must have been hard on both teachers and pupils. Furthermore, one must also add the bombing going on above ground, as well as the heat or cold suffered and the general unpleasant smell often reported to have been a staple feature of life within the shelters. It must also be kept in mind that wartime children were leading a very unsettled existence, frequently being woken up during the night due to the incessant bombing, as well as suffering hunger with the depleted rations.

Secondary school students found it even more difficult to continue their education. For the majority of these pupils, their school was not located in their village, which meant they would have had to travel in order to get to their destination. Fuel was scarce and one must also factor in the very real danger of being caught in an air raid. Arrangements were put in place and attendance to secondary schools was reduced to 3 times per week. School work was given to continue at home in order to make up for missed time at school. Examinations were another major problem. Plans were made to hold them in shelters for safety purposes.

Conclusion

It is quite extraordinary that although the islands were going through such a difficult time – in 1942, it is a known fact that a date for surrender due to the immense shortage of supplies had already been set – great efforts were still made to try and give students some sort of formal education. The Department of Education continued working as close to normal as was possible under the circumstances. It seems that promotion continued to be issued in order for schooling to keep running as smoothly as possible. In the National War Museum archives, an appointment letter issued to Miss Nina Borg in 1944 is a testament to this. Dr Laferla was recognised for his work and received the CBE in 1942. Sadly, he died one year later, but his legacy would have long lasting effects on the Maltese educational system.13 The situation did not immediately return to normal after VE day. It would take years before the makeshift hospitals were closed and school buildings returned for their intended purpose to be used by students and teachers.14 After war ended, the Compulsory Education Act of 1946 decreed that all children between the ages of 4 and 14 were to attend school.15 This was a major improvement over the Education Act of 1924, as parents would now be breaking the law if they did not send their offspring to school and would prove to be instrumental in ensuring that all Maltese children had access to education, thus more equal opportunity to better one’s circumstances.

Notes & References

1 ‘Education in Malta at the Outbreak of War’, September 1939

2 Bonham-Carter Diaries

3 Debono & Grixti, 1998

4 Caruana 2002

5 Education in Malta, Nov 1941

6 Cassar, 2018

7 Azzopardi, 1940

8 Brady, Report of the Scout Group

9 Education in Malta from September 1939 to December 1941

10 Cachia, 2005

11 Cutajar 1942

12 Grima, A 2002

13 Carabott, 2023

14 Cachia, 2005

15 Bezzina 2015

Bibliography

AZZOPARDI, G., 1940, Education, Times of Malta, 21 December 1940.

BEZZINA, C ., 2015, Malta, in W. Hörner, H. Döbert, L. Reuter, & B. von Kopp (Eds.), ‘The education systems of Europe’ (pp. 523-543), Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

BRADY, R.K.’ 1940, Report of the Scout Coast-Watching Camp, ‘Malta between 3rd June and 19th July 1940’.

CACHIA, A ., 2005, ‘Makeshift education in wartime Birkirkara’, Times of Malta, 8 May 2005.

CARABOTT, S., 2023, ‘National archives get documents by pioneer of modernisation of Maltese law. Acquisition includes also correspondence by man who introduced education system’, Times of Malta, 25 January 2023.

CARUANA, V., 2002, in Mizzi, L., The People’s War. Malta: 1940/43

CASSAR, G., 2017, ‘The Compulsory Attendance Act and its immediate aftermath in Malta’s educational development’, The Educator, No.4/2017, pp. 53-68.

CUTAJAR J., 1942, ‘Education’, Times of Malta, 26 January 1942.

DEBONO, C.A., & GRIXTI, A ., 1998, ‘Primary Education in Malta during the Second World War (1940-1943): A Social History’, unpublished BA dissertation, University of Malta.

Education in Malta at the Outbreak of War, September 1939. In NWM/GOV/REP/21.

‘Education in Malta’. Times of Malta, 17 November 1944.