Appeal to parents as children return to school

Thousands of pupils returned to school yesterday after the summer holidays as state schools and some Church and independent schools opened their doors at the start of the new scholastic year.

The Ministry of Education said more than 37,500 boys and girls attending state schools were back in classrooms yesterday. This was a first time for 7,000 of them.

In all, some 62,500 are expected to attend school. According to the Education Ministry, 140 new teachers started working in state schools this year.

For the first time, new teachers attended a two-day induction course.

The ministry said four schools still do not have the full complement of assistant heads, but these are expected to be appointed in the coming days. The authorities are also doing their utmost to employ the required number of teachers, the ministry added.

Education Minister Louis Galea appealed to parents to give their children all the support they needed without piling extra pressure on them.

On his part, Labour education spokesman Carmelo Abela said the country needed to work more to achieve results that were comparable to those of other EU countries.