Education Minister Dolores Cristina will be calling a meeting between educators and linguists and ask them to come up with recommendations regarding which teaching language should be used in schools in the different stages of education.

She said it was time to have a linguistic policy that would outline whether lessons were taught in English or Maltese without leaving it up to the school to decide.

This, she said, would be a sensitive debate as one had to ensure that Maltese was not sidelined and used only during Maltese lessons.

Ms Cristina was speaking during a seminar organised to round up the seven-month consultation period over the draft National Curriculum Framework.

She and Labour Party spokesman on education Evarist Bartolo agreed that it was important to ensure that all students learnt at least three languages.

Mr Bartolo cautioned against linking education solely to economic development and stressed on the importance of involving teachers in the process of implementing the curriculum as its success ultimately depended in what happened in the classroom.

The draft curriculum was launched for consultation in May.