(Adds PN's reaction)

The Labour Party is in favour of the vocational subjects the government plans to introduce in secondary schools although it disagreed that students would have to pay for them.

Addressing a news conference this morning, PL education spokesman Evarist Bartolo said that it was very worrying that according to a report drawn up by the National Commission for Higher Education, 40 per cent of students stopped their education before post-secondary.

He referred to a 2008 trace study in Malta which showed that a good 60 per cent of students did not continue their education.

Mr Bartolo said that according to the latest statistics for MCAST, 14 per cent of students who started following a course dropped out.

These figures, he said, showed that Malta needed vocational subjects. However, he pointed out that these could have been introduced in a better way because for the new system to succeed, it needed the full involvement of both union and teachers.

The university senate, Mr Bartolo said, was to start evaluating the value of these subjects in the education system. He said it was important not to give them a lower value because they were as important as matriculation subjects.

There was a great prejudice against vocational subjects but if their introduction was implemented well, they would help address the great problems in Malta’s education system.

Mr Bartolo said that PL disagreed that students would have to pay on registering for these subjects because there did not come with an examination at the end but were based on a three-year assessment course.

The government, he said, should foot the bill if these subjects were offered at secondary school level. The PL would be following the matter very closely and it was keeping an open mind.

He appealed to the senate to look favourably at the introduction of these subjects.

PN'S REACTION

In spite of the Education Minister’s categorical denial that students would have to pay for vocational courses, the Labour Party’s education spokesman this morning made another weak attempt to confuse minds and cast doubts on parents and teachers, the PN said in a statement.

It said that Mr Bartolo failed to give concrete proposals and a vision on the education sector in confirmation that the PL lacked vision on education, which was the key to the creation of employment.