Although secondary and Junior Lyceum students are no longer divided on paper, streaming within schools has been introduced based on students' performance in mathematics, English and Maltese in the national benchmarking exercise, PL education spokesman Evarist Bartolo said.

The national benchmarking exercise has replaced the JL examinations. Its aim had been to discard the previous separation between secondary school and JL students.

Addressing a news conference, Mr Bartolo said that students were not being separated in buildings but streaming still existed within the same school.

He called for the results of the benchmarking exercise to be made public.

Mr Bartolo said that the PL agreed with the removal of all forms of discrimination.

He said that the previous rigid selectivity had been tantamount to violence because it categorised children at an early stage and left the under achievers with the stigma of being ignorant.

But a new form of streaming had now been created and this should also be removed.

For this, the education authorities had to ensure that teachers and heads were onboard with the project and were provided with the necessary training and the financial means to support such a change.

Mr Bartolo noted that the demands being placed on teachers were greater and this was why teachers had to be adequately trained.

He noted that the number of fifth formers who did not continue to study was too high at 1,800 of 5,000.

This figure was, however, denied  by the Education Ministry in a statement issued later in the day.

The minsitry said that according to official statistics issued by the National Commission for Higher Education, 73 per cent of student aged 17 years had continued studying in 2010.

The number had been 43 per cent in 1999.

Mr Bartolo said that a problem in the curriculum which had not yet been resolved was how Maltese and English would be taught.

Although the Maltese had the advantage of a bilingual society, this also created a disadvantage because most people spoke Maltese in everyday life when most subjects were taught in English.

An emphasis on the teaching of English from an early age should be made as children were being exposed to the language from a very young age through the internet and computer games.

Children should also be exposed to sciences as a fun subject from an early age.

Mr Bartolo criticised the fact that a number of vocational subjects were to be introduced from this scholastic year against a fee. The students most likely opting for these subjects were likely to be those who could least afford them.

Higher education spokesman Owen Bonnici quoted from the Angelou Economics study commissioned by the government last year which said that "despite improvements in the education system, Malta still lacked behind in achievements at the upper levels of education."

Malta, he said, could not risk being left behind and he called for increased investment even in terms of lifelong learning.