AN calls for specialised secondary schools

Azzjoni Nazzjonali believes in tapping into students' individual talents by creating an education college system that encourages them to focus on what they like and are good at, party leader Josie Muscat said during a press conference on youth this morning.

This, he added, would ensure that when students leave school they would be better prepared to enter the job sector they aim for.

Drawing from his personal experience he said he would have never become a doctor had his father not encouraged him as, at the time, he did not have the patience to focus on his studies.
“God only knows how many students there are like me, who are lost along the way because they give up,” he said adding that students need to be encouraged to pursue subjects they liked at secondary school level.

“Everyone was born with a talent. What we are saying is, let’s find out what the talents of the young are... that way we would have a better society,” he said.
AN did not agree with the current system through which students leave secondary school with the same list of subjects that sometimes had nothing do to with what they wanted to do in their future.
AN was proposing introducing specialised colleges at secondary school level. The first two years would be years of formation after which the student, with the help of teachers, would choose a specialised college.

If a student wanted to pursue studies at University or MCAST s/he would have a good basis in the subject, he said.
The future of the young generation is in the hands of today’s politicians. Young people should be looked at through a wide angle that takes into consideration every stage of their life starting from their upbringing at home, to their schooling, entertainment, transition to the working world, the setting up of a family as well as the environment they live in.

AN proposals, as laid out in the electoral manifesto, included ensuring that all those who worked with children were professionally trained. AN would also ensure that teachers well well-paid, dedicated and motivated.

Dr Muscat added that AN did not want to get into the debate surrounding the Labour’s proposed reception class (to be added between kindergarten and primary school) but AN believed that, since children might experience problems at any stage throughout schooling, it would be wiser and more economical to have a rapid intervention team that intervened to address problems at any stage.
He also spoke about AN’s proposed initiatives to help young people by lightening the tax burden them faced when purchasing a home.