Schooling, spending and other statistics

The National Statistics Office recently issued a publication entitled 'Children', containing an abundance of child-related statistics. Here are a few interesting figures about education that may have been overlooked in the previous media coverage:

Nation of underachievers?

4.3 per cent of Malta's adults have no schooling whatsoever. 32.5 per cent have been educated up to primary level. Another 44.3 per cent also have a secondary education, and a further 11.5 per cent have attended a post-secondary school or college. Just 7.4 per cent of the population have a degree or diploma.

Brighter on paper

Last year marked a record for the number of successful candidates - from both state and non-state primary schools - in the Junior Lyceum entrance exam. Indeed, the number of passes from both sectors has been rising gradually since 1985, the first year the figures are available.

In that year, the pass rate for students from state schools was 34.8 per cent, while for non-state schools it was a mere 28 per cent. Since then, the success rate of non-state schools has far surpassed that of state schools: 74.3 per cent compared to 51.6 per cent made the grade in 2001.

The question is: Are children getting brighter, is the teaching getting better, or are the exams getting easier?

The grade gap

The number of top grades - Grade 1 - awarded to students sitting for the 30 subjects in the Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) exams was 1,267 last year. That represented 2.5 per cent of all the grades awarded, ranging from 1 to unclassified and including absentees.

Many more gradings, however, were at the 'unclassified' bottom end of the scale: 8,934, or 17.8 per cent of all grades. The most common grade was a 4, with 9,809, or 19.6 per cent.

The grade gap at Matriculation Certificate advanced level was slightly smaller: 6.4 per cent were 'As' and 16.1 per cent 'Fs'.

Learning abilities

The number of children with disabilities enrolled in mainstream education has been rising every year. The figure was 380 in 1987, but rose to 825 in 2000. Eighty-eight had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), making up the largest category of disabilities or conditions. Eighty-six had severe learning difficulties. Other conditions or disabilities included Down's Syndrome, cerebral palsy, developmental delay, severe learning difficulties and aggressive behaviour problems.

Truant behaviour

A total of 60,278 unauthorised student-days were missed in state primary schools during the 1999/2000 scholastic year, the only year the figure is available. In state secondary schools, that figure was a high 173,398.

Private school students play truant too, although perhaps to a lesser extent, with 5,127 unauthorised student-days missed in the primary sector in the same year, and 6,353 in secondary schools.

Low-tech homes

Only 15.3 per cent of households with children have access to the internet. However, there is a computer in 51.3 per cent of these homes.

On the other hand, only 0.9 per cent of the households do not have a television and 8.8 per cent do not have a video cassette player or recorder. DVDs are still catching on, with only 5.6 per cent of homes reporting that they have one.

No such thing as a free school lunch

Maltese families spent Lm16.5 million on schooling and private lessons in 2000.

The highest expenditure by far, Lm5,409,200, went towards school fees. Another Lm2,021,300 were spent on schoolbooks, Lm1,832,400 on uniforms and Lm1,622,100 on transport. 'Other' spending amounted to Lm1,440,300.

Private lessons in academic subjects and sports and cultural activities accounted for another significant chunk of household spending in 2000.

The outlay on fees for academic lessons alone amounted to Lm2,663,100 - half the amount spent on school fees! Another Lm223,400 was spent on books for the lessons.

Private lessons in sports and cultural activities drew another Lm1,206,800 from family budgets. Of that, Lm996,400 was spent on the fees, with other spending going on books, uniforms, costumes, kits and other paraphernalia.