Malta, which has more than twice the EU average of early school leavers, is making great strides in closing the gap even achieving one of the best rankings in reducing the numbers.
At 36.8 per cent, the island has, according to figures released last year, the highest percentage of 18-24-year-olds having a lower secondary level of education. The EU average stands at 14.4 per cent.
However, by 2009, the island managed to considerably cut the number of poorly educated youngsters by 32 per cent on its 2000 levels, a record surpassed only by Cyprus which achieved a reduction of 36 per cent.
This emerges from European Commission figures published this week to accompany a new EU action plan geared at further pushing young Europeans towards education.
The EU classifies early school leavers as those aged 18 to 24 who would not have continued school after compulsory education and are not following any further education or training.
On an EU level, the best performers are two former Communist countries – Slovakia and Slovenia – with just 4.9 and 5.3 per cent of early school leavers. At the other end of the scale, Portugal and Spain sit next to Malta with 31.2 per cent each.
The EU has set binding targets so that by 2020 the overall number of early school leavers in all member states will fall to below 10 per cent.
Malta has also set its targets, although due to its high rate of early school leavers, these are more modest. It plans to reduce the number by a further eight per cent on the current levels.
Presenting the action plan, European Education Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said early school leaving hampered economic and social development and was a serious obstacle to the EU’s goal of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
The action plan recommends a series of measures based on prevention, intervention and compensation measures.
The Commission said prevention of early school leaving had to start as early as possible by supporting children in their learning and by avoiding conditions that could trigger their departure, such as making a pupil repeat a year and failing to properly assist children with different mother-tongues.
Intervention measures had to quickly and effectively address emerging difficulties, such as truancy and low performance levels. Compensation measures had to offer second chance learning opportunities, including additional classes in school and possibilities for young adults to re-enter education and training.
According to Brussels, better cooperation between member states, the exchange of good practices and a more targeted use of EU funding could also help tackle the problem.
What do early school leavers do?
In 2009, 48 per cent of early school leavers in the EU were employed, the remaining were either jobless or outside the labour market.
The percentage of young people who abandoned education but were employed was highest in Malta (74 per cent), Cyprus (74 per cent), Portugal (71 per cent) and the Netherlands (71 per cent).
Especially large numbers of early school leavers were either unemployed or inactive in Slovakia (80 per cent), in Bulgaria (73 per cent) and in Hungary (71 per cent).