Education Minister Dolores Cristina is confident that EU targets to cut the percentage of early school leavers will be met and surpassed.
“I’m confident that by 2020 we’ll still reach the benchmark and I’m optimistic that we can do even better,” she said.
Her reaction comes after an EU report which spelt disappointment over the slow progress that Malta was making in the area.
Statistics show that Malta, with 36.0 per cent of its students leaving school early in 2010, has the highest rate in the EU.
And while Malta’s target is to reach 29 per cent by 2020, it only managed to slash the rate by two per cent since 2005.
Ms Cristina sought comfort in the longer term picture, which shows that early school leavers dropped from a staggering 54 per cent in 2001.
Moreover, she said projections for 2011 suggested the figure would go down to 34 per cent, which would mean that the country would have achieved in a year what it did since 2005. She said the government was working to target various aspects of education that would yield positive results. However, it would take time to see results.
Children with learning difficulties were being targeted from a young age, the education reform was focusing on students’ individual strengths and vocational training was introduced.
In contrast, Labour Party education spokesman Evarist Bartolo said he did not believe the targets could be reached. He argued that students were not being prepared well enough.
He quoted a 2009 study that looked at the educational progress of 15-year-old students in 72 countries. This showed that between 64 and 66 per cent of Maltese students were being provided with baseline literacy, mathematical and scientific knowledge. Mr Bartolo said the government was failing to address this gender gap. He spoke about the importance of early intervention to help students with learning difficulties, adding that, while the student-per-class ratio was good, school sizes had to be smaller.
To this, Ms Cristina said the gender gap was being addressed, pointing out that the first schools that were being built were those for boys and in areas where more support was required. Moreover, large schools were equipped with several assistant heads to ensure that all students’ needs were catered for.
Ms Cristina said she was very disappointed by the way the opposition would be voting against an upcoming Education Bill even though both sides agreed on its importance.
Mr Bartolo yesterday reiterated that Labour’s vote was “Tom and Jerry politics” as it was normal parliamentary practice since it was a money Bill. “What it means is that while we agree with the objectives we do not trust the way the government spends money,” Mr Bartolo said.