Schools in Malta: facts and solutions

I read recently how gender inequality in Malta is worse than in China. A key person from the Malta Confederation of Women's Organisations blamed the short school days and long holidays as being the major culprits impeding mothers from working.

Incidentally, a few weeks ago the Green Party asked why so much out-of-school tuition was occurring across the country, posing a burden on many families left with no option but to finance private lessons.

Furthermore, international studies show that Malta excelled in global childhood obesity. So parents often have to ensure that their children do the required amount of daily physical activities outside normal school hours due to the few PE lessons per week at schools.

In fact, Health Minister Louis Deguara once said that schools should take up a World Health Organisation recommendation to include an hour's daily exercise for children in their curriculum (The Times, March 7, 2007).

I have also noticed that, in order to receive the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation, the Catholic Church in Malta demands that children receive additional evening doctrine lessons.

It therefore seems that the glorious past achievements enjoyed by school workers are, unfortunately, backfiring on the community! Also in their favour is the fact that most parents will not dare open their mouths or put pen to paper for fear that their children will be blacklisted.

I have my reservations regarding the suggestions on gender inequality including that the education authorities should introduce breakfast and after-school services and summer camps.

First, let's start with breakfast. Let us not give children bad examples. Breakfast should be taken first thing in the morning, obviously after one goes to the bathroom! We do not want our future generations to drive to work on an empty stomach and then expect them to take breakfast at ease when they arrive at work!

There is nothing wrong with after-school services and summer camps, except for one thing. Gone are those days when one used to work using volunteers! So I do hope that this does not backfire again on the community. Are we, taxpayers, going to make good for schools' part-time work or overtime as well? Are we redefining the true value of overtime as stipulated by the EU?

Can I ever imagine having the guts to ask my employer to permit me to leave early from work every day and then expect to have the right to complain that I have work to do at home and even expect to have overtime rights?

If stress is the major concern, why not publish data on the brain drain being experienced? Other professionals are experiencing brain drain and encounter stress and take work home as well, but they still deliver 40 hours and more per week and share the same vacation leave entitlements as the rest of the community.

The funny thing with schools is that, although workers there do not like the idea of working like the majority of other workers, they still want to benefit from the common good that is enjoyed by people who work for it and really deserve it. They have official breaks, half days, summer bonuses, salaries that are comparable with most other professionals, pre-retirement leave and now, perhaps, more overtime!

But, then, some go through a Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation! Since part-time tuition jobs are remunerated by the hour and one would make a bad name for oneself if one's pupils failed their exams, there is no time for breaks, free lessons, holidays, cultural events etc.

Meetings with parents will not disrupt their stream of private lessons. Amazingly, in the evenings these individuals are no longer tired, drained by stress and adversely affected by unfavourable climate conditions! To top it all, a recent report showed that Malta has the highest proportion of early school leavers in the EU: about 42 per cent of Maltese students are leaving school by the age of 15, in sharp contrast with the EU average of 15 per cent.

The report raised important queries which I have been preaching for a long time! Why does the remaining population in Europe spend more time in upper secondary school than we do when it takes them longer to commute to and from school? Why do our children need to attend private lessons to be able to enter the Junior Lyceum or get a decent grade at ordinary level certification?

From this report I conclude that our early school leavers are sending a direct message to the education authorities that school or no school it does not really make a big difference to their future lives. They may feel that school is a waste of time because they are still not getting anywhere. Only private tuition will do the trick for them!

I am not expecting schools to deliver scholars, Olympic athletes and clergymen. After all, parents also have to do their important part. But I do believe that, in spite of the millions of euros being annually budgeted for education - including the building of new schools - there is no country that has all the five extreme problems together. I am referring to gender inequality, private tuition, physical activity, spiritual formation and school leavers.

We are living in times when the buzzwords for the labour force are "produce or deliver more". In the past, I made some suggestions as to how the government could tackle the problem with schools.

Consider our half-baked pension reform. This reform implies that we have to work for four more years because the exigencies of our nation demand so and we are one Europe now. Well, although this drastic measure is much more demanding on workers than the issue of cutting annual vacation leave by just four or five days, it is being gradually implemented, nice and smoothly over a span of about 20 years so as not to irritate big brothers and sisters!

A similar transition can be implemented gradually to address the problem with short school days and excessive holidays.

I hope the updated educational curriculum takes my suggestions into consideration.