Valletta schoolbags

Maltese playwright Vince Vella talks to Josanne Cassar about the importance of the satchel during his Valletta school days:

Apparently, in those days in Valletta, the type of satchel you had marked you in the schoolyard hierarchy of social ranking. There were four types. A cloth bag was the most humble, used by the poorest children who either came from a large family or who were being raised by a single mother. The next in line was what most children had: a cardboard case with a checked pattern and reinforced corners. Then there were the cases made of sturdy wood that were often used to bash in those made out of cardboard during daily scuffles. Finally came the ultimate in schoolbags: the ones made of real leather and which were usually given as a reward to the bright children who had passed the entrance exam for the Lyceum.

After twice returning home with his cardboard case smashed to smithereens, his mother, to his horror, sewed him a cloth bag. After begging her not to send him to school with it, she relented and gave him one last chance, buying him yet another cardboard school case which she inspected daily for signs of damage. He protected that case jealously until one day, to his shocked dismay, two boys kicked it over the bastions. With a sick feeling in his stomach he watched the case fall, as if in slow motion against the rocks, but miraculously it survived, with only one corner bent out of shape, which he managed to hide from his mother. Many years later, rummaging through his mother’s washroom, he found the cardboard case again – she was using it to hold the clothes pegs..