The Nationalist Party yesterday persisted with its education-led offensive on the Labour Party with the Prime Minister accusing the Opposition Leader of taking it out on young people for political gain.

Not only did we not lower student’s stipends but we increased them

Lawrence Gonzi referred to Labour’s statement that it would vote against a money Bill on education now before Parliament. Despite declaring itself in favour of the Bill, the opposition had now changed tack, saying it would vote against, Dr Gonzi said, arguing that this was an example of how low Labour was ready to stoop for cheap partisan interests.

Speaking at during The Times Leaders’ Debate last week, Labour leader Joseph Muscat had rebutted this criticism pointing out that this was standard practice in Parliament where the opposition registered its dissent with the government by voting against money Bills.

The Nationalist government had acted in exactly the same way, voting against the Malta Tourism Authority Act, which it supported when the then Labour government had faced the rebellion of Dom Mintoff in Parliament, Dr Muscat pointed out at the debate.

But the Prime Minister did not relent yesterday, striking an acerbic tone at times.

“It’s no surprise that Labour will vote against this Bill because Labour has always been against education, from the beginning,” he said at one point. “Joseph Muscat is stubbornly challenging students and is taking it out on our young people while making children and young people a political football”.

Drawing a list of the government’s achievements in the field, Dr Gonzi insisted that parents could put their minds at rest that education would remain a top priority for this government.

“Nowhere as in education and jobs are the government’s successes more evident,” he said.

He was speaking at a party activity in Qawra, which was also addressed by Education Minister Dolores Cristina.

Dr Gonzi returned to Nationalist Party’s recent criticism of past statements about stipends made by Labour’s MEP and prospective general elections candidate Edward Scicluna.

Labour had retaliated against this criticism pointing out that its position remained unchanged on stipends, which would be “strengthened” under a prospective Labour government. It also criticised the Prime Minister’s track record, who, the party said, had lowered stipends for some students in 2006.

Dr Gonzi yesterday went through the figures for the past seven years, since he has been Prime Minister, and pointed out that from an estimated €19 million spent on stipends in 2005, the figure would go up to €23 million this year.

“Not only did we not lower stipends but increased them,” he said, reminding that stipends now go to students at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, the Institute for Tourism Studies, Junior College and Higher Secondary.

This money was securing a generation of educated young people who would grow up to be the country’s greatest asset, he said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.