In no field more than that of education are the words "change" and "reform" uttered so often. There are few institutions or systems that call for absolutely no improvement, and education is a complex of systems and techniques that seems to call for continual fine-tuning.
Louis Galea recently announced that reports were being drawn up by his ministry with a view to reforming some aspects of education in this country. The subjects of the reports include the management of the education process for pupils aged three to 16, the organisation of primary and secondary schools, the national strategy for lifelong education, the management of the University of Malta, and the MATSEC and SEC systems.
This is a tall order, especially if the reforms entail the expenditure of substantial funds at a time when public expenditure in most areas needs to be cut down, but there is no doubt that some aspects of education in this country cry out for urgent change.
Primary schools, followed by secondary schools, provide the basis of future developments in our education and therefore in our economic and social progress, and it is clear that in the public sector these schools are not being as successful as they need to be.
Despite all the great efforts that have been, and are still being, made to make these schools attractive as well as educationally efficient, too many school-leavers go on the employment market with a poor academic record. The area secondary schools are churning out young people who are demoralised and often land up in jobs that demoralise them even further.
These schools should become recruiting grounds for the many courses now available at MCAST. Malta needs a vast number of trained supporting staff in a variety of sophisticated economic fields. If the management of our area secondary schools can imbue their pupils with the excitement that a good education and the acquisition of sound qualifications can offer, then their role will become crucial and no longer peripheral.
The role of lifelong education is just as important. Many young people now in their first jobs will certainly find that in 10 years' time or less they will need to retrain or shift to new fields if they wish to do well. The EFTC is doing a good job by providing courses for people looking for employment and the many low-level and middle-level courses in computer use are attracting many - young, middle-aged and even elderly - who wish to become more efficient in their jobs or simply seek to enrich their lives. What is now needed is for the various institutions offering lifelong education to get their act together.
The ministry is also looking at the management of the university, but what it should be doing above all is to provide this university, which has been doing what is all in all a splendid job in turning out thousands of graduates in a wide range of fields, with the resources it now so badly lacks. Basic services, such as the all-important university library, have been hard hit by the government's failure to increase the money that a constantly expanding student body calls for. To expect the university to accept more students, from around 10,000 to 16,000, without substantial injections of money would be academically disastrous.