A disquieting figure often lost in the avalanche of statistics mostly all showing improved performance in various economic sectors relates to early school leavers.
Malta’s rate runs at a staggering level of 20.2 per cent, the second highest in the European Union and, according to the national reform programme just submitted to the European Commission, it is well above the EU average of 11.3 per cent.
When, in the words of the compilers of the reform programme, Malta continues “to be one of the top performers in the euro area and the European Union, both in terms of economic growth as well as labour market outcomes”, the figure is discomforting.
In the introduction to the national reform programme drawn up for the EU Commission last month, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said that “as this government enters its third year of its legislature, it is now comforted by the economic and financial performance to date, and more aware than ever that its ambitious objectives are realisable”.
Gross domestic product rose from 2.7 per cent to 3.5 per cent last year, and the number of people in employment increased by 1.2 per cent in the final quarter of 2014, marking an annual average increase of 3.1 per cent. According to the report, this performance in the labour market was reflected in a historically low unemployment rate, from 6.4 per cent in 2013 to 5.9 per cent last year.
Against such an improved overall performance and repeated official expressions of confidence over economic projections, the figure of early school leavers stands out even more sharply than before. Why is the figure so high? Why has the education system failed to take care of the problem when it began to take shape over time? For, surely, the figure did not rise all this suddenly.
Early warning signals ought to have prompted the education authorities to take timely and effective action to check the problem. With hindsight, first attention ought to be paid to the existing system to ensure that children are motivated enough at an early stage to keep studying till they are ready to join the labour force.
A European Commission report puts it this way: “Prevention measures seek to tackle ESL (early school leavers) before its first symptoms are visible. Successful prevention of ESL considers the pre-conditions for successful schooling and the design of education and training systems. It must ensure that education and training institutions and their learning environment (including the physical environment) provide a stimulating learning climate for all pupils. This includes equal access to quality education for all children and young people.”
The EU wants to reduce the number of early school leavers to less than 10 per cent across member countries by 2020, a formidable challenge to countries like Malta that have a high rate. In a specific recommendation in the reform report dealing with employment, education and training, there is a commitment to reduce early school leaving, “in particular by finalising and implementing the announced literacy strategy”.
A plan specifically tailor-made to deal with the problem of early school leavers should include preventive, intervention and compensation measures. In the same way that efforts at raising the labour participation rate among women are now showing good results, the country can deal with the problem of early school leavers if the programmes in hand are followed rigorously.
The high number of early school leavers represents waste of resources and, unless the problem is checked, it could create social difficulties among this segment of the population.