We must promote science in action

Most parents agree that young children are usually fascinated by the marvels of natural sciences. As they grow older they discover the beauty of the world around them, whether it is in the area of biology, chemistry, physics, engineering or other newer sciences like those connected with information and communications technology.

Yet, in Malta, this natural attraction to science at an early age is not inspiring enough young people to take up the study of science more seriously at the academic level. A recent study published by the Minister of Education, Evarist Bartolo, confirms the rather sad reality that Malta ranks in the 40th place out of 50 countries in mathematics and science skills.

The minister highlighted an even more worrying aspect of this problem when he said that “the study showed that lack of sufficient knowledge of the English language may have contributed to local students answering incorrectly or skipping questions”.

So the issue of insufficient interest in learning sciences is more complex than it seems.

One of the solutions being proposed by the educational authorities is the increase in the number of hours dedicated to teaching of mathematics and science in primary schools. “Malta is the country that dedicated the least amount of time to science: the international median was 85 hours a year, Malta dedicated just 39 hours.”

The increase in the number of hours dedicated to the teaching of sciences and mathematics in schools is just one good measure that needs to be adopted immediately. But there are other remedies that should be considered, especially since these measures have resulted in success in other countries.

One such measure is the recruitment of the very best teachers that are graduates in science. It is a disturbing reality that our best science graduates are not attracted to the teaching profession because it is poorly paid and offers little career advancement prospects.

Finland, that arguably has the best educational system in Europe if not in the world, had to restructure its economy some years ago because it became evident that it could no longer rely on traditional industries like forestry and the processing of its products.

They rightly concluded that to build a modern economy they needed to strengthen their educational system, especially in the different fields of science. One critical success factor of their educational reform was that of recruiting the best scientists available in the country and paying them salaries comparable to what they would earn in industry. This is the way Malta should go if it is to build core competences in mathematics and science in our younger generations.

Another major reform is a change in culture where parents are helped to understand that they need to be ambitious in their expectations for their children’s education. The notion that as long as children are following a University or other tertiary level course it is not really important what they are studying is fallacious even if quite widely spread in Maltese society.

Parents are often vitally important in influencing the academic likes and dislikes of their children. If parents team up with high calibre science teachers to whet the appetite for the love of science in the receptive minds of young children we can really promote science in action.

Our future economic growth greatly depends on the ability of the young people to attain high level of com­petences in sciences that underpin modern industries.

We know our weaknesses. We now need to correct them.