No to complacency

Education is the key to success. Not only, but if we want to compete in today's world economy we have no other option but to invest heavily in education. Every lira voted for education is an investment and not a cost. This is because we are investing in the only resource that Malta has - the human element.

Come next May, Malta will become a member of the European Union and will have to compete with other member states. One of Malta's advantages in the past has been a workforce well trained for today's reality. But is this still the case when compared with other countries?

The EU is also aiming high with the benchmarks it wants member states to reach by 2010. We must work hard to meet these targets and in the people's interests.

In the last few years, the results obtained, together with the papers chosen for the Sec exam, show that our candidate students are not aiming high. The fact that there is the tendency for larger numbers of candidates to register for Paper II B rather than Paper II A is another sign that our candidates do not feel they want to choose a harder paper.

Our education system needs improvement if we want to have more young people succeed in life. We have been saying this for a number of years now. When in 1999 the National Minimum Curriculum was adopted after years of discussion, one could see a ray of light. Today, the vast majority agree that there is still a long way to go before we can say that the NMC is fully implemented.

If we take a look at some numbers we have a situation where two-thirds of those who attend a state school at secondary level still leave school without obtaining a Secondary Education Certificate in English, Maltese and mathematics. Furthermore, just one-third of those attending Form 5 at area secondary schools and junior lyceums obtain a pass, that is Grade 1 to 5, in English, Maltese and mathematics. This means that over 65 per cent fail to get a pass in these three important subjects.

The reality is a success rate of only 33 per cent. The results also show that 70 per cent of girls attending Form 5 Junior Lyceum pass their Sec exam in English, Maltese and mathematics, while just 52 per cent of boys do. The situation is even worse in area secondary schools. Less than 10 per cent of boys attending Form 5 in these schools pass their Sec exams in English, Maltese and mathematics. For girls in the same year this is less than 20 per cent. This means that the success for English will be less than 20 per cent and for Maltese and mathematics less than 50 per cent obtain a certificate.

Is this the knowledge-based society that we hear about? If having over 2,000 students every year leaving our secondary schools without a pass mark in English, Maltese and mathematics is acceptable, the problem is much bigger than it seems.

These results, or rather lack of them, indicate that we still have a long way to go and we have various problems in our primary and secondary system. This is also shown in the budget itself. Among all EU member and acceding countries, we are the one with the least investment in the primary and secondary level. The number of failures also indicate that the system itself needs to be more relevant and meaningful to the student, who after all are the clients.

If we take the 1987 cohort who turned 16 this year, we find that out of 5,314 students, 4,137 sat for a Sec exam. This means that 22 per cent (1,177 students) did not bother to sit for an exam. If we consider that from the same cohort of 5,314, the percentage success rate was 51 per cent, 49 per cent, 53 per cent and 45 per cent in English, Maltese, mathematics and physics respectively, then things are not moving in the right direction.

Our system is not catering for all sorts of students and many are failing also due to the lack of a system that puts the student at the centre. It is right to say that area secondary schools must to be reformed. The Labour Party's electoral manifesto proposed the introduction of modern vocational subjects, exams and certification in various subjects such as basic engineering, tourism studies, information technology, construction, agricultural studies and more, where children learn by doing.

If because there was a rise in the number of those who obtained the six Sec exam passes required for entry into sixth form we are happy, then complacency will make things worse.

Carmelo Abela is the Labour Party's main spokesman for education, youth and culture