Parents urged to stand for school council elections

Parents were yesterday encouraged to take part in the upcoming elections for government school councils, which give them a say in their children's education.

Education Minister Louis Galea said more than 120 government schools will elect parents' and teachers' representatives on January 26.

Speaking during a press conference yesterday morning, the minister stressed the importance of cooperation between parents and teachers. He said this was imperative in order to bring about a change in schools whereby quality education was given to everyone by right and through everyone's participation.

During the last elections held in 2003, about 6,000 families voted to elect representatives from among 500 candidate parents. The president of the Association of School Councils, Frans Borg, explained that the elections, which are held every two years, elect three parent representatives and three teacher representatives for each council.

Referring to a survey conducted by the association last summer, the minister expressed satisfaction that the majority of parents who took part commented positively about education in Malta.

Dr Galea said the absolute majority of parents were of the opinion that the national minimum curriculum was contributing to improve the quality and relevance of education. He said parents also felt that the curriculum was making a positive difference to their children's lives.

However, parents felt that more needed to be done to reduce children's anxiety when moving from primary to secondary school.

Parents, he said, believed that children were progressing in their creativity, the ability to form and give an opinion and in their commitment to studying. At the same time they were not satisfied with the way exams measured their children's progress and development.

The minister said parents expressed concerns over the vast syllabi, the extra pressure on children caused by the exams system, the large amount of studying and homework, the need for more arts, drama, sport, physical education and research, the streaming system and the strong competition present in schools.

"Everything shows that the foundations are strong but they should continue to be strengthened," he said, adding that tomorrow's challenges were huge.

Dr Galea said the ministry was committed to a reform process in all the sectors of education. He mentioned the reform in the Matsec system, the reform in inclusive and special education, the reform in early learning, changes in the education law and reforms in higher education.