Against the background of Malta's falling birth-rate, the government's commitment to open a new State school every year and the Church's decision to significantly expand its involvement in the local education sector, 13 independent private schools set up an association on March 9 to promote the interests of the independent school sector, which currently caters for 7,000 students.
The association also announced that it had commissioned Pricewaterhousecoopers to study the viability of the sector. The report is expected to be presented in the forthcoming weeks.
Vicki Anastasi, head of San Anton School, L-Imselliet, one of the association members, told The Sunday Times that the study will "summarise the current state of the independent schools segment, highlight the escalating issues that are being encountered and make proposals on how to address the situation". Insisting that the independent schools "have no issue with Church schools" she said "in the light of the total funding of state schools and the substantial funding of Church schools via taxpayers' money, it is our intent to work with government to find ways in which the independent sector can continue to thrive".
Anastasi said while the independent schools already catered for most socio-economic groups, one of the association's aims is to identify ways in which parents who choose to send their children to independent schools may be assisted.
In an article in The Sunday Times last January, Alex Torpiano, San Anton School chairman from 2000 to 2008, summarised the situation thus: "Although the cost per student in a private school, which is the burden carried by our parents, is less than the cost per student in a state school, (a burden that is carried by all taxpayers, including our parents), by virtue of the efficiency by which these (private) schools are run, parents who want to exercise this free choice are left to carry a double burden on their own."
Anastasi revealed that part of the brief for the PWC study is to indicate the cost per student of educating pupils and students in independent, Church and State schools and to consider the current level of tax relief on fees paid to private independent schools
The income tax deduction on such school fees, which was first introduced in 2001, today amounts to €1,000 for kinder, primary, and €1,400 for secondary schools. This means that if, for example, a parent with a taxable income of €23,000 and a tax bill of €2,500 decides to send his child for secondary schooling at San Anton School, he has to incur a fee of €3,450 per year.
Under the present tax rebate, only a maximum of €1,400 is deducted from his taxable income, and consequently his tax bill is reduced to about €2,400. In other words, the parent saves around €100 from his tax bill but is still €3,350 worse off.
Torpiano argued that "if our politicians truly believed in the right to free choice in education, as they profess say, for your doctor, your pharmacy, or your life insurance plan, they would make such a choice possible for more parents". While acknowledging that the tax rebate offered at the moment is inadequate Anastasi said this is only one of the many issues that need to be considered in the PWC report.
In mid-January, Fr Dominic Scerri, the Archbishop's delegate for Catholic education, an-nounced that an estimated €18 to €20 million is to be invested to build four new primary Church schools and a new secondary school, while other Church schools are to build new classrooms. He said the total number of Church school students is set to rise from the current 15,000 (33 per cent of the total student population) to 17,300 (44 per cent) as the new schools are phased in from 2011 to 2013.
The decision to expand Church schools was partly in response to the reform embarked upon in the State education sector to eliminate the stressful exams that students had to sit for to move from primary to secondary education. In order to phase out the Common Entrance exams, all Church schools will need to have both a primary and secondary sector to enable pupils at Church primaries to move on to Church secondary schools without the need to sit for the exams.
The expansion will also enable Church schools to be in a better position to meet heavy demand for places in its schools. In 2008, for example, Fr Scerri revealed that Church schools received 3,000 applications for 1,000 vacant places. The expansion is expected to create an additional 1,650 places at primary level and 500 at secondary level.
The popularity of Church schools stems in no small way from the fact that the government uses taxpayers' money to finance its so-called free education. However, the cost is by no means insignificant.
Speaking at a visit last month to St Augustine College, Pietà, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi revealed that the government currently pays the salaries and allowances of 1,127 teachers and 342 learning support assistants in Church schools and that the government grant to Church schools would this year rise by €5.5m to €38.5m. In addition, he announced that the government would refund 15.2 per cent of the estimated €20 the Church said it needed to build its new schools.
The proposed new Church schools and expansion projects, however, will have to be financed by the religious orders that manage the individual schools, or by the Curia. And while the latter posted a loss of over €1m in 2008, and finances of the former may also be limited.
At least some of the new schools and expansions are subject to confirmation by the religious orders involved. In fact, shortly after the Church schools expansion was announced, Maltese Augustinian provincial Fr Lucian Borg, wrote in The Sunday Times that the decision as to whether St Augustine College would build a new primary school or take over an existing school, would be taken in the next provincial chapter to be held from April 7 to 14.
St Aloysius' College, Birkirkara, a Church secondary school run by the Jesuits, has already opted not to build a new school. Instead, in June 2008, it merged with Stella Maris School, a primary school previously run by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in nearby Balzan. By merging with existing Church schools religious orders could avoid the need to incur building costs while the government could save new salary costs.
Meanwhile, as part of the ongoing upgrading of the state education sector, the government is investing heavily in information and communication technology. For example, every primary, secondary and peripatetic school teacher is given a free laptop.
The Independent Schools Association wants government to acknowledge the right of children attending independent schools to benefit from whatever measures and included in any national strategies, such as in IT and Science, that are being taken to benefit Maltese children as a whole.
Anastasi said: "We need to convince the government and the education authorities that the independent sector is to be considered and allowed to fully participate in all programmes that form part of national strategies. In this way we will be able to get closer to a level playing field."