Primary school children who do not tick off a checklist of basic literacy, mathematics and IT skills will start being given special assistance under a new educational strategy that has just been launched by the government.

The policy document, which is up for consultation, forms part of a chain of reforms in the educational system and falls in line with the government's plan to have 85 per cent of students in tertiary education by 2015.

The document should give schools working definitions (which still have to be reached) for basic levels of literacy, eLiteracy and maths, which each student will be marked against for the first three years of school.

In that way children who need special attention will be flagged up. The policies drawn up in the document will be implemented during this scholastic year but will be evaluated in the summer after teachers and heads of school give their feedback.

The document should then be finalised before the next scholastic year.

It is a pity that students are lost along the way without learning the required basics in primary school, Education Minister Dolores Cristina said as she launched the policy.

"By Year 3 students have to learn the basic levels of maths, reading and writing - if they didn't, it is the school's responsibility to help them," she said.

Grace Grima, the head of a directorate on quality and standards in education, said it is the responsibility of primary schools to see that all students learn the basic competences.