Once upon a time there were 550 students studying at the St Edwards, De La Salle, St Aloysius and Stella Maris Sixth Forms who woke up one day to learn that their future prospects of pursuing a University education had been shattered by an absurd new 20-point policy introduced by the Malta Labour Party. This was also the daunting reality for over 20,000 other students studying in Church and private schools.
Without going into too many numbers, here is a simple example of the extent of the discrimination that this measure brought against these students. At the time, the University entry requirements were threeses at A Level, and with certain measures introduced by the Socialist government in the late 1970s, "pupil-workers" (as they were then called) would be preferred upon entry.
If Student A was studying diligently in a private school and successfully managed to get the best grades in all three A level subjects he/she was studying, that is, three Grade A's (A,A,A), then he/she would have a total 30 points.
Student B, studying at Junior College (or New Lyceum as it was then called), and who struggled to get the bare minimum grades required in his/her three A levels, that is, two Grade Cs and a Grade D (C,C,D), would have earned 16 points, but would have been favoured with a gift of an additional 20 points bringing his/her total points to 36.
Student B with a C,C,D average grade was therefore preferred to the other student who got straight A,A,A grades in the University entry lottery.
Why did we need this absurd selection criteria and the Students' Selection Board, which can be likened to a firing squad ready to kill the dreams of our youth?
Why didn't the Labour government invest sufficiently in increasing the capacity of our educational facilities and thereby eliminate the need for the numerus clausus? Or do Socialists believe that it is easier to have a dumb society then a smart one?
Do we want Alfred Sant and New Labour to wake up one morning and fiddle once again with the future of Maltese children? We already have a taster of this in the "repeater class" proposal.
No wonder those poor students yelled frantically "No No No" to turning back time to a Labour Administration when given this opportunity by Dr Sant in the University auditorium.
And, yes, together we will live happily ever after.