Some 57,000 primary and secondary school pupils returned to the classrooms this morning.

The Education Ministry in a statement said the opening of the schools had gone smoothly.

It said that over summer, maintenance work was carried out on 30 government schools. The building of a new secondary school at Mosta was taken in hand while the newly rebuilt Boys’ College at Verdala had been completed and was welcoming its first students today.

Good progress was made on the building of the new secondary school at Victoria and Pembroke primary.

The ministry said that whereas in the last scholastic year, 17 schools were headed by an acting head, this had now been reduced to five out of a total of 101 schools. This had happened thanks to an agreement with the MUT which had encouraged more teachers to apply for headship posts.

The Nationalist Party in a statement said the opening of the new year presented new challenges for students and teachers which, with good will, could be turned into opportunities.

It said the government was continuing to invest heavily in education, building new schools, improving the infrastructure of others and increasing facilities.

The students of MCAST started or returned to their courses last week, and University students follow on October 1, although lecturers are threatening industrial action over a pay dispute.