The change followed a detailed study. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

St Aloysius College will introduce co-education in its Balzan primary school starting next year, with its secondary school in Birkirkara to follow suit further down the line.

In a letter to parents, rector Fr Jimmy Bartolo said that Jesuit regional and national authorities had approved plans for the school to accept its first mixed cohort in September 2018.

After seven years at the primary school, male and female students will proceed to secondary school at the start of the 2025-2026 scholastic year. The Sixth Form is already co-educational.

READ: Students like mixed-gender schooling, teachers not so much

“This decision was taken following a detailed study and discernment process carried out under the direction of the St Aloysius College board and the Jesuit province, with the participation of a number of consultants and experts in the field,” Fr Bartolo said.

Independent schools in Malta have all been co-educational since their foundation. State primary schools have also had mixed-gender education since 1980, although this was only extended to secondary schools in 2014.

While church schools have so far lagged behind, Archbishop Charles Scicluna called in February for schools to carry out a consultation process with a view to formulating an official Church policy on the subject.

Five church primary schools have already introduced the system, the most recent being St Albert the Great college in Valletta last year, but none have so far announced plans for similar changes at the secondary level.

Class discussions have become more interesting and varied... the system will help students relate to the opposite gender

The Archbishop’s delegate for Catholic Education, Fr Charles Mallia, told TVM earlier this year: “We are aiming to reach a decision if in a general way some schools can be accepted, at least some schools will change and instead of remaining with a single-sex system, they become co-ed for boys and girls in the secondary.”

The introduction of co-education in state secondary schools three years ago has been heralded as a success by the government, which published a study last year showing that 90 per cent of parents were satisfied with the system, and 80 per cent of students reported being happy at school.

Teachers’ responses at the time were more mixed, with nearly a quarter reporting that their students were generally underachieving in a co-education setting.

Teachers also reported various incidents of misbehaviour, bullying and even physical violence by male students, although others said class discussions had become more interesting and varied since the introduction of co-education and that the system would help students relate better to people of the opposite gender.