Education: a Gozitan renaissance

After more than a quarter of a century teaching in schools in the London area, I did a spell of about seven years teaching in Gozo at the Sir Michelangelo Refalo complex, in Victoria. While in London I had hardly ever met former students once they left school. In Gozo wherever I went and go now, there is always someone who claims that s/he was a previous student of mine. Size matters.

As I spent most of my teaching years in Gozo teaching Systems of Knowledge, today, wherever I venture I meet lawyers, doctors, dentists, architects, local councillors, social workers, priests, teachers and self-employed, all past students.

It was the change of government in 1987 that opened up educational opportunities in Gozo as elsewhere in Malta. When I joined the staff at the Sixth Form in 1993 there were still serious problems in dealing with the demand for places and shortage of teachers. So much so that I ended up teaching both the first year sixth and the second year sixth as whole distinct classes, each class with about 120 students. I was given a microphone to make myself heard as the classes were held in the school hall. It was a case of standing room only.

Amid the problems of dealing with this situation, there were so many moments of satisfaction. The students were eager to learn and determined to succeed. I was even thanked by many a student after I had finished my regular teaching stint, an experience I have never had in the UK. The number of female students carried on increasing over the years, reaching a majority by the time I retired.

Gozo has witnessed an educational revolution since 1987. And this is not reserved to the Sixth Form level only. The facts speak for themselves. In the primary sector the success rate of passes in the entrance examination to the Junior Lyceum increased from 49.47 per cent in 1995 to 63.95 per cent in 2005. While fewer than half of the sixth year cohort, 48.26 per cent were successful in 1995, by 2005, 59.30 per cent made it. An increase of over 11 per cent.

The number of Matsec students in the Sixth Form for the year 2004-2005 reached 503. In 1989/99 it was 345. At the end of 2006, 470 students finished their studies - an impressive increase of 36 per cent in under 10 years.

The MCAST institutions in Xaghra and Xewkija in 2006 catered for 113 students. In 2003 there were only 66 full-time students. There is also an increase in the number of part-time students, while a few weeks ago over 50 students started a maritime course.

The Institute of Tourism Studies, which in 1999 had 12 students full-time and 25 part-time, today has 39 full timers and 11 part timers. It has to be said that no students in Gozo were recruited during Labour's 1996-1998 administration as the government decided to transfer the facility to Malta.

More than 3,000 Gozitans have participated in courses at the Art Schools, the University of the Third Age and other institutions and in courses sponsored by the ETC. Up to the year 2005 the University Centre in Xewkija has seen 278 Gozitans graduate. The centre was opened in 1992. This year the centre has 72 students following a variety of courses leading to diploma, degree, MA qualifying and MA levels. A group of 16 students are attending short courses. It is estimated that about 1,600 Gozitans have taken up short courses at the University Centre.

The number of Gozitan students at the MCAST and at the University in Malta continue to impress.

At the MCAST there were 89 Gozitans and five at the Institute of Tourism at St Julians in the year 2004/2005. At the university, in the year ending 2006, there were 832 full-time students from Gozo, 321 of whom just finishing their first year of studies.

But this is not the full story. Thanks to funding through the European Social Fund, more than 150 Gozitans have participated, free of charge, in courses in crafts, tourism, agriculture, management, planning, environment, e-commerce, information and business studies. The EU is also having a positive effect on several schools as they participate successfully in EU programmes involving both teachers and students from other schools in EU member states. There is no way how the benefits of such contacts can be fully measured.

The experiment which has grouped all the government primary and secondary schools as one cluster has already started to pay dividends. The Gozo College has been tackling problems such as health education, absenteeism and illiteracy across all ages. Absenteeism has seen quite a decline. While for the year 2002/2003, a loss of 11.4 per cent of the total number of school days were registered, the figure went down to 7.7 per cent for the year 2004/2005. Dialogue between students, teachers, parents and the community at large has improved through the new college structure.

Gozo has never experienced such an educational renaissance. Long it may continue.