New schools will be built while existing ones will be revamped, closed down or used for different educational services, according to Government plans that will be rolled out shortly.

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo this morning said the evaluation of infrastructural needs for the next five years was almost ready. "But new schools will be built to the country's educational requirements and not the needs of the construction industry."

Mr Bartolo said the vision was to create smaller school communities, especially at secondary level with the creation of intermediate schools that grouped Form One and Form Two students.

"From an educational perspective it makes no sense to have massive schools with hundreds of children. We want students not to be just a number and this is why we want smaller schools," he said.

Mr Bartolo said a new primary school will be built in St Paul's Bay to cater for the growing student population and similar initiatives will be taken in Marsascala and Mosta, two expanding localities.

He said demographic changes may imply that some schools in prime sites could be closed down, which in turn could be used as collateral by the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools when seeking bank finance to build new schools.

"They will be important assets for the foundation but they can also be used to house certain educational services that are squeezed in various buildings," Mr Bartolo said.

He was addressing journalists at the Birkirkara boys secondary school were maintenance works were carried out over the summer months.

Mr Bartolo said a three year budget of €15 million was earmarked for the upkeep and maintenance of old schools.

He was accompanied by Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi, whose ministry was also roped in to provide maintenance work in some schools over the summer.