A total of 419 primary school students took ethics classes during the last scholastic year, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said, as the pilot project heads into its third year.

Replying to questions in Parliament by Labour MP Anthony Agius Decelis on how the project was faring, Mr Bartolo said students from nine colleges will this year be offered the ethics class and the take-up has so far been positive.

Ethics education was introduced as a pilot project two years ago and is today offered at the Maria Regina College, San Benedittu College, Santa Klara College, San Ġorġ Preca College, San Injazju College, San Nikola College, Santa Tereża, San Tumas More and the Gozo College.

The highest number of students taking ethics classes came from the Maria Regina College in St Paul’s Bay, where 125 students from Years 1, 2 and 3 attended. Another 101 students from the college’s middle school opted for the subject.

Tabling a breakdown of the number of students who last year chose the subject, the minister said that there were another 74 students from the Santa Klara College’s primary school, while another 106 students from the college’s middle and secondary schools took the classes.

Thirteen students from the San Nikola middle school in Rabat also received ethics education.

While the take-up among primary students is high, at present, only students in Forms 1, 2 and 3 sit for exams on the subject. According to Mr Bartolo, those in Year 4 and Form 4 will also be able to sit for the exam as from the next scholastic year.

Students wishing to sit the exam at the SEC level will be able to in two years’ time, after the Matsec board approves the syllabus, the minister added.

On the number of teachers trained to teach the subject, Mr Bartolo said there was a group of 43 who had completed a post-graduate course in ethics education in 2015. Another 42 student teachers would complete the course next year.

When the pilot project first took off, demand was assessed solely on the basis of the number of students refusing to attend religion classes. Parents have the right to ask for their children to be exempt from religion lessons, but if no alternative subject is offered, these students are often forced to sit out the lessons alone.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.