The government will be launching an anti-poverty strategy in the coming months to bridge the gap between the school and family and weave a network between the church and NGOs, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said this afternoon.
He said that the strategy, for which the government was seeking European funds, would include the involvement of other ministries.
Mr Bartolo was speaking during the presentation of Malta’s results in the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA), which was carried out once every three years.
A total of 64 countries took part in Pisa 2009 An additional 10, including Malta, participated in the PISA 2009+, held in 2010.A total 3,453 15-year-old Maltese students took part.
The study measured functional literacy which is applying knowledge in real life situations.
Malta placed 40th in mathematical literacy, 41st in science literacy and 45th in reading literacy.
Mr Bartolo said that although Malta fared below average in general, the study showed that the proportion of Maltese pupils taking additional lessons outside school hours was high.
At 58 per cent, Malta had the highest proportion of students in the EU and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, who took additional lessons in mathematics.
It also had the highest number of students, at 43.9 per cent, who took extra lessons in science and the fourth highest number (21 per cent) who took additional lessons in English.
Mr Bartolo said that an interesting experience should be created at schools to intrigue students who would otherwise hate subjects like maths.
On the positive side, the study also found that 66 per cent of Maltese students read for enjoyment while 34 per cent only read if they had to. These results were more positive than the EU and OECD average.
Mr Bartolo said that while 18.6 per cent of Maltese students reported that reading was a waste of time, the EU average was 26 per cent and the OECD average 24.2 per cent.