The Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise is supporting a call to extend school hours so that the children are taken care of while the parents continue contributing to the nation’s well-being.

The proposal was first made by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech prior to the 2011 Budget when he said it did not make sense that school finished so early with all extra-curricular activities being held in the evenings.

Chamber president Helga Ellul said the “time has come” to take such a measure to ensure more people contribute to the country’s economy. The proposal was also one of the chamber’s recommendations to stimulate female participation.

Ms Ellul was speaking during a dinner the chamber’s council hosted in honour of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and his wife Kate.

She said the chamber was willing to pursue its recommendations with social partners on the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development where she promised the chamber would continue to contribute “to ensure businesses operate in the right environment which is conducive to growth and success”.

With the consolidation of members and resources of its former separate entities, the chamber had shown it was in a better position to provide meaningful opinions to ensure companies could operate in the right business environment to grow and generate the prosperity they rightly deserved, she said.

Ms Ellul said to grow the country had to continue investing in its people.

“We must persist in increasing the profile of our human resources and encourage more youngsters to pursue tertiary education and, if possible, go even further.”

She said the authorities had to find “a lasting solution to the problem posed by early school-leavers”, adding that these people “will be our next major social problems and will not find a place in the higher-value added economy we are projecting”.