An initiative launched today by the Education Ministry seeks to involve partners from the corporate world, unions and civil society to expand on education programmes offered in schools.

Education Plus aims facilitate the application of knowledge within organisations and ensure the relevance of knowledge and skills throughout the education, business and research sectors.

The idea is that people of all ages can get involved in programmes offered by organisations to develop skills that are relevant in life, beyond the knowledge acquired in schools. The aim is to build bridges between industry and education by centralising initiatives to improve efficiency.

“Education is still based on the military model of conformity. We must do more to open horizons. We have to develop an education model related to the age we live in and address the gap between the reality in the classroom and the reality we live in,” Prime Minister Joseph said during the opening speech of the conference launching Education Plus.

The programme is inspired by four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together. The country’s education system focuses on the need to know, but gives scant attention to the other pillars essential for life.

Over 200 organisations have already shown an interest in participating in the programme, including the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, the army and unions.

“Education is everybody’s responsibility. Seventy per cent of what is learnt is not within the class room. Real life experience cannot be taught in class,” Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said.

The initiative is not only targeting corporations that give insight into workplace knowledge and skills, but also partnerships with voluntary organisations because these can teach values lacking in society.

“Voluntary organisations can help instil a sense of solidarity – this is an important value,” Dr Bartolo said.

Education Plus is not limited to youths and students, but also aims to support apprenticeship, traineeship, work-based and work-placed learning initiatives in the context of lifelong learning.