(Adds PN's statement)

The government will be offering free revision classes in mathematics, Maltese, physics and English to O level students who would have failed their examinations or got a grade 6 or worse to help them improve their grades in the September resits, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said.

Speaking at a conference on the Youth Guarantee Scheme, Mr Bartolo said this was one of three initiatives being offered by the government under the EU funded project.

There will also be summer revision classes for MCAST students who did not pass their exams enabling them to resit and not lose a year.

The third initiative is an extension of the alternative learning programme where students who do not register to sit for O levels are encouraged to take an educational or vocational course enabling them to potentially go to MCAST.

These initiatives, Mr Bartolo said, would target about 2,000 students against a €2.7 million budget and help reduce the number unemployed aged up to 25 in Malta.

Clyde Caruana, chairman of Jobs+, said 25 per cent of unemployed youths in Malta were single parents, 10 per cent were disabled, 10 per cent had been registering with the Employment and Training Corporation for less than six months and another 10 per cent for more.

He said that almost 44 per cent of unemployed youths did not register with the ETC and said they were looking for a job but could not find one.

The government’s biggest challenge, he said, was to identify clearly what these people were doing, why they were not registering and why they were not motivated. They could even have an undeclared job.

Closing the conference, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the scheme would provide the foundation for youths who failed the system or were failed by it.

The government was told that youth unemployment was low but the reality was that there were young people in society who could not or did not contribute.

The programme, he said, would have a two-pronged approach - preventive and reactive. It would identify those at risk of becoming early school leavers and focus on reducing this flow and address youths who registered for work and offer them the opportunity of a vocational education or work experience.

Dr Muscat said that 35 per cent of young people who were not studying, were not in employment or were not undergoing training were social benefits. This, he said, was something the country could not afford both on economic and moral levels.

Youth Guarantee would try to secure a second chance for these people, Dr Muscat said.

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT ON THE INCREASE - PN

In a statement, the Nationalist Party said in Labour’s first year the number of young people out of a job and not receiving any form of education or training had increased from 4,800 to 5,800.

The Prime Minister's pre-election job guarantee had so far only materialised for Labour’s inner circle of friends, the PN said, adding that on the eve of another election the government was now attempting to play the same game it had played a year ago.

The PN said the Opposition has continuously expressed its willingness to contribute towards a national policy for job creation but the government consistently refused to accept the offer to work together on such a sensitive sector that affected the country’s economic and social well-being as a whole.

The Nationalist Party said it fully supported measures aimed at reducing youth unemployment and unemployment in general.

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