Despite registering considerable progress in many educational areas over the past six years, Malta still trails far behind average levels in the EU, according to the latest league table produced by the European Commission.
The 2007 edition of the Commission's annual report on the progress made towards the Lisbon objectives in education and training was published yesterday in Brussels.
The report charts progress since 2000 in the light of key indicators and focuses on five education benchmarks agreed by the member states.
EU countries had agreed to strive towards attaining better results in lowering illiteracy, getting more people to upper secondary education, having more graduates in scientific subjects, achieving better results in lifelong learning and lowering the number of early school leavers.
According to the data produced by the Commission, since 2000 Malta has managed to register substantial progress in all areas, excluding illiteracy, where no data is available.
However, Malta is still far from achieving the Lisbon targets by 2010 and is at the bottom of the EU education rankings.
The EU in general is also off the mark when it comes to meeting the agreed targets.
As far as early school leavers go, Malta has lowered its levels to 41.7 per cent last year from 54.2 per cent in 2000. However, it is still the worst performer in the EU in this category. On average, early school leavers in the EU last year amounted to 15.3 per cent. The EU benchmark for 2010 is no more than 10 per cent.
The report gives details on how the member states are doing in reaching the 85 per cent benchmark of 22 year olds attaining at least upper secondary education.
Last year, Malta reached 50.4 per cent, an increase of almost 10 per cent on its 2000 levels. Nevertheless, even in this sector, Malta is among the weakest performers with only a slightly better showing than Portugal. The EU average last year topped 77 per cent.
Since 2000, Malta has also managed to better its results in the adult education and science graduates' areas.
Last year, 5.5 per cent of those aged between 25 and 64 years were following some kind of adult education course. In 2000, this figure stood at 4.5 per cent. The EU 27 average stood at 9.6 per cent and the benchmark in 2010 is 10 per cent.
The number of science graduates in Malta also increased slightly although, compared with the global increase in tertiary students, the figures deflate.
Last year, there were 200 students following scientific courses at University level. According to the Lisbon goals, member states are to increase their performance in this area by 15 per cent on the 2000 levels. Malta's lowered its comparative level by 1.4 per cent.
Member states are also required to reduce the number of illiterate 15-year-olds by 20 per cent in 2010 when compared to the situation in 2000. No data was given on the situation in Malta in this area.
Overall, the Commission's report shows that the EU will not reach its targets.
Education Commissioner Jan Figel told a press conference that, regrettably, the report shows that the member states need to redouble their efforts to make the EU's education and training meet the challenges of the 21st century.
"The message to policy makers in the member states is clear. We need more efficient investment in our human capital," the commissioner said.
The overall results show that last year about six million young people (18-24 years old) left education prematurely in the EU. The best performing EU countries in this area were the Czech Republic (5.5 per cent early school leavers), Poland (5.6 per cent) and Slovakia (6.4 per cent).
According to the report, more graduates from upper secondary school are needed and in order to achieve the EU benchmark of an 85 per cent upper-secondary school completion rate by 2010, an additional two million young people would need to finish upper-secondary education.
Even in this area, the best-performing EU countries are the Czech Republic (91.8 per cent), Poland (91.7 per cent) and Slovakia (91.5 per cent).