Shadow Minister for Education George Pullicino today claimed this was a “government of deadline fatigue” in view of the number of deadlines the current administration has missed since being voted into power in 2013.

He said Budget 2017 lacked vision, something education department officials, educators and teachers were well aware of.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Pullicino criticised Education Minister Evarist Bartolo for missing deadlines to build new schools.

Budget 2017 states that work will begin on the building of three new schools. However, Mr Pullicino said, the one in St Paul’s Bay was promised last year, the one in Marsascala should have started being built last year, and the one in Victoria, Gozo, would be built on a playfield instead of the footprint of the old school.

While praising the government for including financial aid for children from difficult backgrounds in the Budget, Mr Pullicino said this was not addressed properly. 

The government also missed the deadline to provide schoolchildren with tablets, as these were due in September 2015, he said. 

Mr Pullicino said lack of human resources was of great concern, as was the low intake for Masters degrees in teaching and learning. He called for an investigation into teachers’ salaries because these were low. This discouraged the best students from becoming educators, he argued.  Also, teachers, LSAs, and Kindergarten Assistants often had to purchase basic materials out of their own pocket.

Turning to childcare centres, he said the government had ignored another deadline in opening that in St Julian’s three and a half years late. He praised the opening of a child care centre in Żebbuġ, but wondered what had happened to plans for a similar centre in Floriana. 

Research funds for the university needed to be doubled from the current €500,000, Mr Pullicino added.