Extensive reforms in the education sector

The government plans to set up an institution next year to cater for students expelled from school for disciplinary reasons, Education Minister Louis Galea said in Parliament yesterday.

Speaking during the budget debate, Dr Galea said the education sector was going through a process of extensive self-analysis and reform in order to evolve with a changing world. In comparison, opposition criticism of the education sector was superficial.

He said a report on early education was about to be published, while recommendations by Lino Spiteri on education for people with special needs had been concluded and were moving to the implimentation stage. Another report on school attendance improvement and recommendations to tackle truancy was also being published. The Education Ministry had also published a report entitled For all our children to succeed, on the basis of which the schools network was being created.

While the opposition was complaining of not having been consulted on the education reform process, it had not replied to his letters inviting its contribution.

With regard to Matsec, he was publishing a critical analysis and recommendations for the examinations system to be strengthened. This was an exercise aimed at further building on the success of the Sec system now that the target of having 80 per cent of students sit for "O" level exams had been reached.

Dr Galea recalled that when the university had just 1,000 students and only 160 graduated, the Labour Prime Minister had said that abroad, graduates were becoming terrorists because society was not providing them with the jobs they needed. He feared the same for Malta. Now the university had 10,000 students and 2,700 graduated, but they were doing well. The minister said the ministry was also acting against bullying and a new code of discipline had been introduced. Students would not be allowed to terrorise classes, students or teachers and if needs be they would be expelled and transferred to a new institution which would hopefully be set up next year.

Dr Galea said spending on education next year would reach Lm110 million. Capital expenditure was about the same as last year and it was not true that spending on ICT was being reduced. Personal emoluments were rising as the salaries of the Institute for Tourism Studies would henceforth be paid by this ministry.

In 18 years of Labour government, since 1971, Lm21.2 million were spent on capital expenditure on schools compared to Lm80 million in 17 years of Nationalist government.

Lm21 million would be invested in higher education next year. Stipends would cost Lm8.7 million and there were no savings here, despite what the opposition said.

The introduction of computers in schools had been a successful process. A survey had shown 44.5 per cent of teachers were using computers for teaching purposes, including 70 per cent in primary schools.

Science had now found itself in the curriculum of the earliest classes of primary schools and he was confident this would have the same positive impact as when computers were introduced in primary schools.

Malta would also participate in 2007 in an international survey on the teaching of mathematics and science.

Dr Galea touched on employment, saying the government's aim was for everyone to be in employment. Official figures showed how the government was succeeding to create jobs.

Some Lm79 million in foreign investment was attracted to Malta last year and Malta was the sixth most successful EU member state to attract investment.

Furthermore, all of the ministry's activities were focused on young people. The best one could do for the young was to give them quality education. A proactive youth policy was being implemented. He invited young people to follow the Commonwealth Young Peoples' Forum.

On sports, he said the backbone of the sector was provided by the voluntary commitment of hundreds who were active in this sector. In the past nine years the government made a capital investment of more than Lm4 million in sports and a recurrent expenditure of Lm7.5 million. It enacted a Sports Law and set up the Maltese Sports Council.

On science and technology, Dr Galea said the decision to transfer the Malta Council for Science and Technology to the Office of the Prime Minister reflected increased government commitment to this sector, which had an input in all ministries.

Earlier in the debate, Nationalist MP David Agius referred to opposition remarks that people were being struck off the unemployment register on any pretext. Would the opposition agree to the appointment of a unit or a private company to investigate who was registering for work and then worked illegally?

Before EU membership the MLP used to warn of hordes of Sicilians coming here to work. Where were they?

When compared to other European youths, Maltese youths were among those who had the most money. Four out of every 10 had a job and another two received a stipend.

Mr Agius said he believed there should be more sports facilities in schools. If they were used by the public after school hours, reasonable fees should be charged.

Malta should promote sports tourism and it should insist on more professionalism in sports. The people should realise that there was more to sport than football. Indeed, Malta was being successful abroad in other sports competitions, such as shooting and rugby. In this context Malta should start working now to be successful in the Monaco 2007 games.

Clyde Puli (PN) said the budget included a number of initiatives aimed at generating jobs while encouraging innovation.

Employers needed a quality workforce. Many trades were new and the government needs to continue investing strongly in them.

The government was investing a record Lm110 million in education, a substantial part of the government's expenditure. The fruit of investment in education could be seen in the way MCAST now had 4,000 students and 2,700 were graduating from the university.

Students in higher secondary education had doubled since 1987. The stipends system encouraged students to continue with their education and to take up subjects which the economy needed most, such as those in science and technology. In contrast, the MLP had proposed that students take out loans during their studies and pay them back once they started working.

Jason Azzopardi (PN) said the education landscape had changed radically in the past few years. The sector was increasingly focused on the needs of the economy, the most recent development having been in the sector of trade and vocational qualifications.

The government had a vision to provide quality lifelong education as highlighted in the pre-budget consultation documents.

Trade schools had been reformed, as had the stipends system. Students were also enjoying better career guidance. A reform had also been launched in primary and secondary education, with a greater degree of networking between the various schools and institutions. There was a process of decentralisation without giving up on accountability.

Significant progress had been made in the upkeep of the schools and also in the time and cost it took to build a new school.

While total recurrent expenditure for higher education under Labour reached Lm 9 million, last year this was Lm17 million.

Referring to the National Commission for Higher Education, Dr Azzopardi said the government was making it clear that the document the commission had launched was for consultation.

The commission had to ensure continuous appraisal of the country's educational system. It had to remain autonomous, and establish a link between post secondary organisations.

Education was the key for a good future for Malta, and the government therefore deserved to be congratulated for how it had encouraged more young people to follow post secondary courses, although more remained to be done.