Is English an official language?

Stefano has been attending SkolaSport for some time. SkolaSport is a program of the Maltese government to promote sports for kids of every age.

My wife and I decided to register him for the gymnastics class.

Actually, because of the average age of the participants, during this class, they just play together. Still, we think this is more than sufficient, considering this is also an occasion for Stefano to socialise with other children.

Last week, I received an email from the sports centre: they invited me to a parents' meeting to discuss the new gymnastic academic course. The idea behind this is to identify potential in the kids to build a future team of professionals.

We decided to attend the meeting, even though we were aware that it is perhaps too early for such a commitment.
The meeting started with the introduction by one of the organisers.

Unfortunately for me - but, after all, we are in Malta - he started speaking Maltese.
I then politely asked him to switch to English to let us understand.
What surprised my wife and me was the face of the speaker and the rest of the committee.
After a short discussion, the speaker replied in English that the rest of the attendees preferred Maltese.

We were about to leave the room when one of the committee members proposed himself as a translator from Maltese to Italian: he invited me to sit beside him.
With his help, I understood the most important topics, but the bottom line is that Stefano is still too young (and "inexpert", whatever it means for a young child) to attend the academic program.

In hindsight, that situation raised a question in my head:

Maltese and English are both official languages in Malta: is it my right to request to speak English at a public event?