Book Launch – Il-Ktieb tal-Etikett u l-Manjieri Tajba – April 2025

Education Minister Clifton Grima participated in the launch, held at St Joseph Mater Boni Consilii school, Paola, and engaged in discussions with the students, who asked questions and read extracts from the book. He also praised the new publication by Fondazzjoni Sagħtar.

MUT President and Fondazzjoni Sagħtar founder Marco Bonnici explained the principles behind the new book and how it can be used in schools. He stated that the new book shall be distributed freely to all students in Year 6 in Malta and Gozo.

Fondazzjoni Sagħtar thanked Dr Kenneth Vella and all educators and students at Marter Boni Consilii for the book launch held at their school. The Foundation also thanked the management of Fondazzjoni Sagħtar, the researcher, the author, the illustrator, the designer and the printer of the book.

Let us take a look at this new book:

Etiquette is like a set of rules that people adhere to so that society functions properly and everyone in that society feels safe and lives a happy life. Such rules can be compared to traffic lights, since “they guide us through tricky encounters and stop us from crashing into one another” (The British School of Excellence, 2024).

People often remark that students of all ages, children and young adults, are showing a lack of respect, etiquette and good manners in their behaviour nowadays. Unfortunately it seems that such crucial lifeskills are either being ignored or else the message is not getting through. That is why Fondazzjoni Sagħtar, which aims to serve a social and educational function among educators and students in Malta and Gozo, including by generating and publishing educational material, proposed the publication of a children’s book about etiquette and good manners, aptly titled Il-Ktieb tal-Etikett u l-Manjieri Tajba (The Book of Etiquette and Good Manners).

Thorough research about etiquette and good manners was conducted by Sergio Grech, who collected a large number of points, suggestions and words of advice for primary students. All the points were later adapted and put together in writing by Chris Giordano, who also categorised the material according to a number of selected themes. After that, Nadine Debattista Briffa painted a set of illustrations for all themes, to make the publication more attractive and engaging for the younger generation. Robert Caruana concluded this publication through his able designs. The printing was carried out by Print It Printing Services.

The selected themes include choosing the proper attire; good behaviour on the bus, on school transport and on the road, in a new place and when meeting new people; invitations and parties; communication and good use of telephones, mobiles, tablets and the internet; good behaviour at home, during meals, in restaurants, cinemas, shops, at school, in the library and during sports activities; and respect for animals.

The book describes how two siblings, Ġanni and Luċija, are always striving to put etiquette and good manners in practice, and gives practical words of advice to help readers apply their best behaviour in a diversity of situations in real life.