This contribution was inspired by the findings of recent research carried out by a campus newspaper, The Insiter, and reported in The Times on January 12. It was found that only 34 per cent of students interviewed recognised their fellow student representative on the University Students' Council (KSU) Roberta Avellino.

The findings of the survey brought to mind the short debate reported in The Times where, on August 18, 2008, Joseph Muscat, Leader of the Opposition, stated that the Labour Party (PL) is proposing to lower the voting age to 16 to "curb polarisation and partisan politics on a local level". The reaction of 16-year-olds interviewed at the Junior College on August 19 and reported in the same paper was that they were sceptical about being given the vote because most of the youngsters felt they would vote as their parents would suggest.

The Times further reported on August 22, 2008 that the Nationalist Party's youth section, MŻPN, and Alternattiva Demokratika, the Green party, were both arguing that they had made the proposal first.

These two episodes cause one to ponder whether democracy is understood to be simply about voting and elections or if it is truly a desired preparation for our younger generations to mature and live as active democratic citizens. Yet, if the young interviewees themselves stated that they were not yet ready for such a responsibility and students at the University fail to recognise even their own representatives, one can only imagine how other youngsters who are not at the University think when it comes to being given the responsibility at a younger age to elect national representatives who should be working for the common good of all the community.

Even more recently, The Times reported on January 22 that 10 students were asked 10 current affairs questions in a vox pop on campus. Regrettably, a number of them failed to answer even what should appear to be obvious answers such as who is Malta's next President. As a result of this, Marilyn Clark, head of the University's Department of Youth and Community Studies, is right to ask: What are adults doing to encourage young people to participate?

I am fully for the proposal that citizenship education should be the means to prepare individuals to participate as active and responsible citizens in a democracy and that this should be given more importance in the curriculum.

Similar results to those mentioned above emerge from the analysis of data from an ongoing longitudinal research (2002-2009) (Caruana P. 2008) among students at the Junior College of the University of Malta.

There is no doubt that our students are going through the challenge of democratic deficit. This can be seen, for example, when it comes to participation, or lack of it, in the community to express their views regarding any policy issued by the government or any other authoritative organisation.

Citizenship education needs to feature at every level of the curriculum, from the early years to post-secondary education. It must be seen as a process of formation and preparation for our young generations to be able to fully participate as democratic citizens in a democratic society.

They should be aware of the major values that one receives while living in a democracy and what their rights and duties are, especially when it comes to nurturing democracy. One should also understand that democracy cannot be taken for granted.

Democracy is defined by the way it is maintained and challenged continuously in the community. As one can easily gather from global news, apart from the fact that so many countries are still striving to live in a democracy, others are finding it difficult to govern democratically because of international issues such as terrorism, climate change, famine and disease that all show and give a sense of helplessness when trying to implement solutions.

In Malta we have reached an important milestone that could affect future generations of young people in Malta. A revision of the Maltese National Curriculum and a national discussion regarding a new strategy for all levels of education are in the pipeline.

One sincerely hopes that education policy-makers aim for immediate as well as long-term solutions to meet the various challenges in our current education system and, most importantly, implement developments in the preparation of teachers, if any reform is to truly succeed.

Citizenship education should feature at all levels of the Maltese education system to ensure that as a community we tackle the real challenge of democratic deficit.

This will enhance the opportunities for present and future generations to truly participate in a living and thriving democracy that was founded by our past generations. We owe it to Malta and to our children.

Dr Caruana is a lecturer at the Junior College and lectures at the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta in areas regarding democracy and citizenship education.

philip.caruana@um.edu.mt