Unlike Europe, which is plagued by high youth unemployment, Malta has too many youngsters in work when they should be studying, according to Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.
Early school leavers are defined as those aged between 18 and 24, who have left compulsory education with less than five SEC exams to their name and are not attending an educational institute or undergoing training.
Mr Bartolo said that, last year, almost 21 per cent of people fell within this category, giving them few job prospects and little hope for improvement.
The rate was almost double the EU average but a vast improvement on the 28 per cent registered in 2009. The EU wants member states to reach the target of 10 per cent by 2020.
Mr Bartolo yesterday released the Strategic Plan for the Prevention of Early School Leaving that aims to cut early school leaving to 10 per cent in the next six years.
He said the educational system was partly to blame for the high rate of early school leavers because it failed to offer different opportunities for students to learn.
Mr Bartolo said students who left school without O levels would soon have the possibility of obtaining certification at lower levels.
The current set-up sees secondary students sit for SEC exams at the end of Form 5 that gives them the equivalent of Level 3 on the European qualifications system.
At the moment, students who do not obtain the grades in their SEC exams end up with no qualification and have to undergo a foundation course if they want to enter post-secondary schooling at the Malta College for Arts Science and Technology.
Under the new strategy, an alternative path that offers certificates at Level 1 and 2 will give students the chance to start Mcast courses at Level 3 without the need to undertake the foundation course. Mr Bartolo said the important thing was not to measure the number of students who started foundation courses but those who actually finished them and progressed to other courses.
He said the current rate of drop-outs was too high and the alternative path to obtain Level 1 and 2 certification would help fill in a gap in the system.
But the strategy also urged greater parental involvement in the educational aspect of their children’s school, moving away from the concept of parents as fundraisers and muffin bakers.
Mario Cardona, from the Early School Leaving Unit, said schools had to open up to parents because what children learnt could easily be undone at home.
“We must not have schools that resemble the Cittadella – a walled community within the town – that keep parents out,” Mr Cardona said.
He said schools had to pull down the barriers and involve parents more at an educational level.
Meanwhile, the classroom had to become relevant for students by having different teaching techniques that reached out to different abilities.