PN supports digital education strategy but voices concerns over resources
Opposition calls on government to make sure classrooms have sufficient internet access
The Opposition Nationalist Party has expressed its support for the government’s recently announced Digital Education Strategy while expressing concerns over available resources to support it.
In a statement Wednesday, the PN said that while it welcomed the strategy, it was concerned schools “do not have sufficient assistance or human resources available” for digital education.
The party called on the government to “address existing technical issues in advance”, including ensuring every school was equipped with adequate internet access in all classrooms.
Stressing the importance of long-term investments, the PN said a school dedicated to digital education should be considered, digital learning “fully implemented” into the curriculum, digital literacy programmes for parents and guardians strengthened and more importance placed on “digital citizenship”.
The party said the government needed to make sure teachers had “full access” to existing digital tools, continuous training and “targeted assistance” to effectively implement the national strategy and were given more flexibility to incorporate digital learning in the classroom.
Looking beyond the classroom, it called for greater support for students from “diverse socio-economic backgrounds”, in particular those who had “faced challenges” since the introduction of tablets in schools.
“It is evident that past attempts have not succeeded as intended, to the extent that many teachers and educators have stopped using digital tools (including tablets) in classrooms due to various reasons, chief among them being issues with the school distribution systems,” the PN said.
"The Partit Nazzjonalista asks whether the Department for Digital Literacy has enough human resources to drive forward the change we need to see and thus ensure the effective implementation of the proposed Strategy.”
The statement was signed by Shadow Education Minister Justin Schembri.
Announcing the 2025-2030 Digital Education Strategy yesterday, Education Minister Clifton Grima said that from next year, Year 6 students would learn how to use artificial intelligence (AI) for image creation, text-to-speech and online searching.
The strategy, which focuses on five pillars – nurturing digital global citizens, empowering educators, community engagement and collaboration and enriching digital resources – will include introducing students to “virtual and augmented realities” using AI.
Other topics covered by the strategy include misinformation, disinformation and fake news, online lessons, guidelines for home-school links, digital literacy role models, promoting Maltese culture online and the provision of tablets for primary schools and laptops for secondary school students.