Education in Malta
Schools should be fun. Learning should spark enthusiasm. I have lived abroad and travelled extensively. My experience abroad has seen children and teenagers return from school a bit worn out from daily physical activities at the school grounds, yet looking forward to free time, no homework, just maybe some research or reading.
And these youngsters still obtain high grades in their GCE/GCSE examinations.
Education is about widening horizons, encouraging lively discussion, providing analytical and thinking skills, promoting our cultural heritage and the arts through frequent school excursions and outings. Education should be fun.
We, in Malta, are missing the wood for the trees.
No wonder our children can’t wait to drop out of school! After eight hours sitting at a desk, they are expected to come home and sit again for another four hours doing homework and studying.
We are robbing them of their childhood. The academic curriculum is far too vast, especially in this day and age when detailed information on any subject can be readily accessed at the touch of a button.
Our students need to be taught the importance of accessing reliable weblinks and how to join the dots.
We need to whet their appetite to discover and learn more. We need to identify and encourage them to continue to develop their talents in the fields they are attracted to.
Immediate and drastic action should be taken by the relevant education authorities. The writing is on the wall; no need to waste more time on yet more discussions/seminars/analysis. Just get on with it.
Anna Galea – Marsascala
Tree today, gone tomorrow
I arrived in Malta with my wife after a long, overdue delay (COVID, of course). We have been visiting Malta for over 20 years and sometimes we visit twice a year.
It goes without saying that the menace of the building cranes is ever more evident and, more so, the continued destruction of Malta’s beautiful buildings.
The tallest building competition goes to the tower going up by Pender Gardens vying to beat Portomaso Hilton tower. Who on this earth permitted/signed that off?
The worse I have seen is a new build in Triq Spinola. The structure is in the shape of a U and is built around what once was a beautiful, tall tree.
The picture (right) shows the space allowed for the tree to continue to grow. Maybe that was part of the planning permission but I cannot comment.
The builder has dug down two feet around the roots of the tree, so it is dying, or already dead. I can only assume that, when it dies, it will allow for the building to be completely covered.
I will wait and see next year when I come back, reporting back to readers. For now, clearly the building is constructed around the tree and it may only be one tree but that is one more lost in a struggle to sustain our environment.
Andrew Phillipou – Bristol, England
Wrong image
The photo carried with yesterday’s letter ‘ Feast of Our Lady of Mellieħa’ carried the image of Our Lady of the Grotto, not Our Lady of Mellieħa. The error is regretted.
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