I refer to the report of the budget debate on the ministry of social policy (December 11) regarding my statement that trends in unem-ployment and school absenteeism in my urban constituency match.

I compared these with those in one of the three villages - Attard. Since the figures I mentioned could not be well explained due to shortage of space, I am quoting the statistics I used, particularly because this is one of the main arguments the opposition has brought up.

After having emphasised that the net increase of 3,157 jobs from September 1998 to September 2002 - no mean feat in a period of unprecedented global economic recession - was mainly but not exclusively in the services sector which requires higher education standards, I also referred to a recent parliamentary question I made. Eighty-nine per cent of the 7,974 candidates sitting for Matsec exams this year passed in at least one subject.

What perplexes me is not the number of students in my constituency who unfortunately did not make it in any of their exams, numbering 58, or seven per cent of the total, but those who would not have sat for any Matsec exams. This is where the youths who live in the towns of my constituency are lagging behind and National Statistics Office demography and education publications, corrected by locality crude birth rate as compared to the national one, tend to confirm my impression.

What I quoted from in parliament, however, are official statistics regarding unemployed youths registering for work as machine operators or for elementary occupations, aged from 16 to 34, in a locality as a percentage of total unemployed in the same locality (December, 2001) and the average absences in state primary schools by locality of school, the national average for the latter being 8.5 (1999/2000) and I am reproducing them here.

This is why I emphasised that urban regeneration should go beyond the rehabilitation in housing, gardens and historical sites.

Our children must rise to the occasion and participate in the success story in education currently under way in the Maltese islands in general. Parents remain primarily responsible.

As their MP, I feel responsible too!