The government’s great efforts to ensure students do not fall behind in education were bearing fruit, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo told Parliament yesterday.
Five weeks of revision classes had led to an increase in the number of students passing their Mathematics, Maltese and English examinations, while the number of youths registering for employment had gone down from 14 to 10 per cent, he said.
Winding up the debate on the Education Act (Amendment) Bill, Mr Bartolo said this government had inherited a situation where 7,000 young people between the ages of 18 and 24 were not in education nor in employment.
“The government sought to save them through the youth guarantee scheme which required a lot of work.”
At least 500 fifth formers completed obligatory education without pursuing further their studies or finding employment. This was a major challenge that this government sought to overcome. It had to ensure that such a figure did not increase.
These students attended more school between October and June than in the previous four years
Mr Bartolo said that although one focused on academic education for a number of years, there could not be a one-size-fits-all formula. One of the major challenges was to determine how to cater for the diversity of students.
In the past, one only prepared children for Sec and, if children were not prepared, they were lost. In 2013, the new Labour government decided to implement an alternative education system to cater for those adolescents who would previously have been abandoned.
At present, there were around 500 students who did not sit for their Sec exams. The Alternative Learning Programme included basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic. It helped them to see what courses they could follow at the Malta College for Art, Science and Technology (Mcast) and the Institute for Tourism Studies (ITS).
This was not an easy task because one was dealing with students who despised the education system.
He hailed the success of the programme, introduced in secondary schools this year, with an attendance of 80 per cent. These students had attended more school days between October and June than in the previous four years.
The programme, he added, would be strengthened through collaboration with the UK’s Princes Trust for vulnerable children and with the financial support of HSBC for the next three years.
A similar programme had been started in Gozo in September 2013.
The minister also referred to the work exposure scheme introduced in Form Four where students gained experience of the world of work through a job shadowing programme. Changes were needed in pedagogy and in the development of students’ personalities.
The Bill also provides for the issue of a warrant to kindergarten assistants with a first degree, who would be recognised as fully fledged teachers.
The number of children attending childcare centres had more than doubled since 2013. The government wanted to use child care centres not only as part of its active market policy but also as a social measure.
Incentives introduced recently would help to create more places in private care centres. But more people needed to be trained for this sector, the minister said