There is movement in the otherwise staid waters of teacher politics. After an uninterrupted 12-year reign by incumbent John Bencini, there is a challenger for the post of president of the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT).
The challenger to the veteran MUT official, who has been in the teachers’ union since the 1980s, is 56-year-old Anthony Micallef Debono, currently Head of Guzè Galea Boys Secondary School in Qormi.
“It is not a question that I am contesting Bencini personally because I’m not contesting against anyone,” Micallef Debono said when asked why he was contesting Bencini.
“I am contesting because I believe I have the necessary qualifications and experience to offer a strong leadership of the MUT in the present realities,” he said.
“John Bencini has done sterling work in the past, however today’s circumstances need a different approach. I believe my background working at school, national and European level will help me in no small way to lead the MUT,” the contender told MaltaToday.
In a letter sent to all MUT members, Micallef Debono is proposing a three-term limit for all MUT officials. At present the MUT statute does not have any limits on the number of terms an official can serve on the MUT council.
“Members should feel they are being listened to. Members should not feel that union officials are distant from the reality of the school and the classroom.
“For this reason I feel that union officials should return to school duties after completing a maximum number of terms so as not to run the risk of turning into union bureaucrats jealously safeguarding their position,” Micallef Debono said.
Asked by this newspaper whether he thought that Bencini has turned into a “union bureaucrat” in his own description, Micallef Debono gave an intelligent reply: “Bencini is a pensioner.”
He said maximum term limits were a common practice in teachers’ unions worldwide. “The reason is quite obvious. One can really appreciate what it takes to be working in education if you are actually a practising professional working in schools. One must avoid at all costs the temptation of wanting to stay away indefinitely from the realities facing everyone who works in schools.”
Indeed, in the past 12 years in the post since being elected for the first time in 1996, Bencini has now become a pensioner, aged 63.
Questioned as to whether the MUT should be more active in national politics than it is at present, Micallef Debono said: “Yes, definitely both locally and more so at European fora. It is the mission of all teachers to be leaders and agents of change in any society.”
Micallef Debono also came forward as being more reception to Labour’s proposal for a reception class than Bencini was. “Reforms in early and primary educations are highly desirable because early intervention to the key. We are lucky enough to have Maltese University academics who are highly qualified and of international repute in the matter. Their professional advice should be heeded by all politicians.”
He concurred with Bencini’s alarm bells on the shortage of teachers, especially in the primary sector. “Indeed the problem does exist. Primary school teachers’ conditions of work should better reflect the demands being made on primary school teachers and administrators. Their present working conditions, together with those of secondary school teachers and administrators need to be improved.”
Micallef Debono, who served as Confederation of Malta Trade Unions (CMTU) secretary-general between 2004 and 2006, has been active in the MUT since 1972, serving three terms on the council and occupying various posts including assistant general secretary and international secretary.
Micallef Debono said he wanted to review the recent Government-MUT agreement on teaching grades after the agreement clinched with the medical unions, to achieve “a fair deal” for all teaching grades.
Since its foundation in 1919, the MUT has had 11 presidents, the longest-serving being the late Alfred J. Buhagiar, who served for 22 years between 1974 and 1996.
Out of the union’s 6,000-strong membership, Bencini, the sole candidate for the post two years ago, obtained 1,490 votes in the last election. The MUT’s biennial general conference will be held at the New Dolmen Hotel on 29 May.

Why I decided to contest – page 24 3