Editorial

When the Prime Minister visited a girls' secondary school last week, he was after much more than having his temperature taken digitally. His visit to the school's laboratories carries a lot of significance.

The upgrading of the 177 school laboratories with new equipment forms part of the government's Vision 2015 project in which areas of study like ICT, science, pharmacy and engineering are being emphatically flagged as being the way forward if students want a job that pays and a career in industries being touted as bastions of Maltese economy for the future.

In the SWOT analysis to understand Malta's key issues, run by the consultants to the government on the Vision 2015 project, Angelou Economics, one of the threats listed is that not enough students are enrolled in maths and sciences. And this is made worse by being within the context of quite a large number of students not finishing secondary education and only about 22 per cent of the population going in for tertiary studies, just over seven per cent below the EU average.

Progress has been made in a number of areas. For example, there has been a steep increase in IT University graduates over the past years and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology has also made a significant contribution. But the industrial need is across the sciences and, given that the inclination towards these areas is largely vocational, the need to instil in very young students a love for such subjects is essential.

There has been quite a sizeable effort made in this regard. The chance to visit other countries through European exchanges must surely leave results, especially if the projects embarked on by the students are science related. Another good example of an admirable effort belongs to Mcast, with its many attractive science fairs.

Dressing experiments up as journeys of discovery is one way of attracting young minds and this seems to be the way to go. What is now needed is that this method, which is as effective as it is simple, be the main approach of science teaching in all schools. It is unfortunate that some of this teaching (luckily in the minority) still relies on memorisation and unsimplified complexities that confuse rather than instruct. Refurbished laboratories and mounds of new equipment are only as good as the use that is made of them.

What must not be done is try to fit square pegs into round holes. Some children just do not have the aptitude for science. There are different learning styles and not all run the way of the particular skills needed to become a scientist. It is thus crucial that the emphasis on science learning does not bring about a class system in education. Yes, the country's needs are paramount but education that best fits the individual is a right that must not be tampered with.

In the meantime, however, making sure that the natural aptitude that many have for science subjects is not lost is laudable and the spending by the government towards this aim is an investment in a future that is already predictable. All that future needs is to be populated by eager, young workers, following models that are already there of Maltese scientists who rub shoulders with some of the best the world has to offer.