Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi deserves credit for putting "child care and early education" on the very top of the list of responsibilities of the new Minister of Education when he formed his new government. Towards the end of the election campaign there were very good signs that the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party, the two main sides to the debate on illiteracy and early education, were converging.
The Labour Party deserves credit for being the first to focus the attention of Maltese society on the issue of early education and the plight of illiterates, from the very little to the not-so-young. It also made a very specific proposal towards its solution which gave rise to a very open debate on this subject.
The Nationalist Party came out with a very good explanation of the primary educational and social causes of learning difficulties in early education but, to my mind, did not make such specific proposals for permanent solutions.
Along the campaign the Labour Party realised that besides the educational aspect there was also the psycho-social component of the problems of early education and included psychologists and social workers in its formula for a solution.
Social workers drew attention to the problem of arrested development of children of all ages especially because of the effects on children of the increase in personal and social problems in Maltese society. This is happening also in other European countries.
Outside the political arena, educationalists and social workers proposed a social compact - more cooperation - between the school and the family. The Malta Union of Teachers suggested (March 14) that special attention should be given to "children who are lagging behind".
The Malta Unborn Child Movement suggested that early childhood education should include also the education of the unborn child in schools and in the community, obviously through the education of pregnant and would-be pregnant mothers and their partners. This after the scientific discoveries of Thomas Verny, a psychiatrist and family therapist, who, in his book The Secret Life Of The Unborn Child revealed that "the unborn child learns in his mother's womb". This approach deals also with the problem of the exponential increase in the number of single mothers.
The issue definitely needs ongoing attention and concrete plans for permanent solutions.
Malta already leads the way, literally, on this subject. The dean of the Faculty of Education is at present leading an EU team of scholars from Malta, Germany, Scotland, Norway, Sweden and Ireland on a EU sponsored project - a Master's degree - on early childhood education.
Dolores Cristina, the Minister for the Family in the outgoing government and now the Minister of Education, most probably will be piloting a more constructive and healthy debate on early childhood learning and development of children.
Ms Cristina is known to be very sensitive to issues like this one and is very likely to act early, and positively on it... with predictive success.
To my mind Carmelo Abela, the shadow Minister of Education in the outgoing Parliament, and again an MP, has a very valuable contibution to make on this subject in any task force the Minister of Education may set up for this purpose.