Government's pledge on education

The government's pledge to invest €270 million in education showed its commitment towards this important sector that formed the country's backbone, the teachers' union said.

The Malta Union of Teachers said that in Monday's Budget the government showed it had recognised the real difficulties facing the country.

The funds allocated to the educational sector were increased by €16 million compared to the previous Budget. The union said that if the planned education reforms were to be successful, then such investment was necessary.

As outlined in the Budget speech, there were a series of ongoing reforms in the education sector, including changes to the national curriculum, the transition from primary to secondary school and the school-leaving certificate.

Reacting to the Budget, the union also touched on the issue of the water and electricity tariffs that will come into force on January 1. The union hoped an indication of these tariffs would soon be announced to avoid the uncertainty infiltrating the economy.

The Labour Party spokesman on education, Evarist Bartolo pointed out that in the previous Budget the government had allocated more than €46 million to education. However, only about €19 million of this was actually spent.