EU wants cuts in early school leavers

European Commission plans to cut the number of youngsters leaving school after compulsory education from 15 to 10 per cent by the end of this decade have been backed by EU education ministers.

According to 2020 targets, Malta has to lower the rate of early school leavers to 29 per cent, eight points below present levels – the highest in the EU.

European Education Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou told a press conference in Brussels following the EU’s Education Council that Europe could not afford to leave six million youngsters without a clear perspective for their further education and employment.

“This council recommendation signals our commitment to fight one of the main causes of poverty and social exclusion. We are all well aware that early school leaving is a complex problem but we must do all we can to try to achieve better results,” she said.

According to the Commission, one in seven young people in Europe presently quit education or training without adequate qualifications.

The measures agreed upon will help EU countries achieve their joint target of reducing the share of early school leavers in Europe to less than 10 per cent by 2020. This will translate to at least 1.7 million fewer early school leavers.

Member states have set different national targets to reduce early school leaving, taking into account their relative starting positions and national circumstances.

Though Malta has more than twice the EU average of pupils leaving education just after compulsory schooling, it has made big strides in the past years and is among the best ranking in reducing the numbers.

Between 2000 and 2009, Malta considerably reduced the number of lowly educated youngsters by 32 per cent on its 2000 levels, a performance only surpassed by Cyprus, which delivered a reduction of 36 per cent.

On an EU level, the best performers in this area are two former Communist countries, Slovakia and Slovenia, with just 4.9 and 5.3 per cent of early school leavers respectively. At the other end of the scale, Portugal and Spain accompany Malta with 31.2 early school leavers each.

At a recent council meeting, the Commission announced it would be establishing an expert group with representatives from all member states to monitor progress and share common experiences in the sector.

Malta was represented at the council by Parliamentary Secretary Clyde Puli.