Young children showed President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca their creative streak by colouring different flags on their tablets, as she inaugurated a virtual classroom project at Valletta’s St Elmo Primary School this morning.

The project, which cost some €14,000, was carried out and financed by Save a Life Foundation.

The classroom was completely revamped – the walls were painted a striking blue and green while parquet flooring was fitted in. The classroom is equipped with one-to-one computing tablets for children, an interactive whiteboard, a flat screen television, a full digital audio-visual set-up and educational software.

The foundation’s chairman, Nationalist MP Claudio Grech, said that this project was the first dream conceived by the foundation which was turned into reality.

He explained that the tools will not substitute traditional learning but will help hone the children’s creative skills and digital literacy.He said that he fed his honoraria into the foundation, and the project was not an expense but an investment.He himself hailed from Valletta, adding that, unfortunately, children from Valletta tended to be labelled somewhat negatively.

“If the project impacts the career of at least one boy or girl, then our aim is fulfilled,” Mr Grech said.

Ms Coleiro Preca said that the project was an excellent example of a public social partnership, where an NGO teamed up with a governmental entity.She stressed the importance of updating tools and of instilling creativity and innovation in children.

The next step, she continued, was to work on prevention by engaging specialists such as play therapists to address a child’s difficulties before his or her situation deteriorates.