An outline National Curriculum will be launched for consultation in the coming days, while a reform of the Matsec examinations system will also be carried out, Education Minister Dolores Cristina said today. The purpose of the Matsec reform will be to bring in a system of exams which motivates the students to show their abilities.

Mrs Cristina made her comments when she addressed the Parliament of Students in a Europe Day activity held in the Chamber of the House of Representatives.

She stressed that the government’s aim was to further reduce the number of students who opted out of the education system once they ended secondary school.

The EU target, she said, was that the students who opt out at the end of secondary school would only be 10%. In Malta, the current figure was 36.8%, but it was as high as 52% just 10 years ago. As a result, 25,041 students were now in post-secondary courses, compared to 14,168 a decade ago.

She said that it was important that reform decisions involved all concerned and they were followed in all state, church and independent schools.