A Chamber of Commerce proposal for the extension of school hours has been welcomed by the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations.
The MCWO has been lobbying for the introduction of longer school days since its establishment in 2004. It argues that this would help mothers and fathers to continue working and contributing to the country’s economic activity.
It said in a statement that after-school services should provide extra-curricular activities like sports, dancing, art and craft.
Help with homework and doctrine lessons could also be incorporated in these activities.
Such arrangements, it said, would relieve mothers from having to run round the island to take their children to such classes, reducing stress, traffic on the roads, pollution, misuse of fuel, and misuse of time and money.
These services would also give parents the much-needed opportunity to continue in their employment while enjoying time with their children when they meet after work. The country would also be making the best possible use of its human resources and getting a return on its investment for the benefit of the whole of society.
The MCWO noted that the proposal was first made by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech prior to the 2011 budget when he said it did not make sense that school finished so early with all extra-curricular activities being held in the evenings. .
It noted that the low participation of women in the labour market, currently the worst in the European Union at only 38 per cent, was an issue that persistently and recurrently surfaced in public discourse dealing with issues of national importance - such as increasing productivity, the sustainability of social benefits, the sustainability and reform of pensions, the sustainability of the health care system, optimising Malta’s return-on-investment in education, and best use of human resources, amongst others.
MCWO believed that much still needed to be done to support dual-earner families, as well as single-parent families - an issue that was not being given sufficient attention.
“It is a known fact that due to the persistent lack of universal childcare and after-school services, many mothers do not have the choice and have to forfeit work.
“In countries where government has invested heavily in supporting structures for children, women continue to work and the fertility rate in these countries are actually much higher than in Malta,” the MCWO said.