The government spent €9.21 million on learning support assistants at independent schools between 2011 and 2016, with the spending almost doubling between 2012 and 2013, but still rising steadily since then.
Replying to a Parliamentary Question, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said that this year, until the beginning of July, €1.44 million had already been spent.
Nine independent schools employ some 140 LSAs, whose salaries and benefits are reimbursed by the government.
The Parliamentary Question did not reply to the amounts spent on LSAs for government and church schools, even though this was part of the question posed by MP Alex Muscat.