Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Brother Edward

(00:30) His childhood and family. He was raised by his grandmother and aunts. Father and Uncle worked in the dockyard, but did not want him to enter the dockyard. Since he was a child, his ambition was to teach. He could not enter the Lyceum because he failed from his maths examination. So, the family took him to the Freres (De La Salle) to see if they can find a solution and lead him to become a teacher.

(07:30) He joined the Freres and started his studied in France with other Maltese brothers. They study was during the WW II, and in 1946. When he and his Maltese colleagues completed their studies in France, they received a letter that they being allocated in North Africa for a year for teaching practice. Before leaving for Africa, there was a counter decision and they were re-directed back home to Malta. His arrival back in Malta, gave his family a pleasant surprise.  

Entering the dockyard-Reasons for joining

(11:00) He started his teaching in Malta, and at that time there was a high request young people to join the dockyard, and the college opened the classes for students who wanted to join the dockyard. During that same period, there were a lot of professional people living in North Africa (mainly Libya), who wanted to educate their children, and the Freres started taking boarders in their college in Malta. This proved to be very successful for the Freres. He remembers that all the boarders were very well educated, and whatever their religion, they used to attend even the religion classes.

Education-Dockyard school

(16:00) The subjects that were taught in the dockyard classes were Maths, English and a lot of world Geography, which was actually the most difficult subject. He does not recall that there were any particular tests or requirements that the students had to have to attend. He does not remember the fee, but was in the region of 2s-6d.  

On the other hand, once the classes started, they used to give their students a test every week. The English subject was also very demanding. The essays were the most important part of the subject. At that time, the dockyard was the most desirable place of work, as it was practically for life, so any family would have liked for their children to work in the dockyard. This was a place where they were further trained in trades. 

(21:00) There were other private schools that had classes for the dockyard. These were actually competing with the De La Salle, even though the De La Salle had a very good reputation as being one of the best schools in Malta. They used to have about 6-7 classes with 60-70 students each class. The course for the dockyard had a 2 years duration.

After passing the examination, the students had to attend for the oral, where the students were assessed directly by the dockyard authorities.

Education-Dockyard school