A new primary school was inaugurated in Qawra on Sunday by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Education Minister Owen Bonnici.

The school, which follows an investment of €13 million, is built on four storeys and will have, among other facilities, 39 air-conditioned classes with interactive whiteboards and laboratories.

Abela said that work was being carried out to ensure safety in schools for both students and teachers with 50 measures having been undertaken to ensure this.

Photo: Kevin Abela, DOI

Education, he said, will remain his government’s absolute priority as it was the key to social mobility and for the country to have trained workers according to the demand of the employment market.
 
Bonnici said the school can take between 500 and 650 students and complements the Primary School in St Paul’s Bay, which will remain open.

It includes a library, a kindergarten, and sanitary facilities in each classroom. It also has two storeys of parking which can take up to 400 cars.
 
Bonnici said the government was building new schools according to need, such as in Victoria and Msida, and was also implementing expansion and modernisation projects in existing ones, such as at the Żejtun secondary. He also said that a school of arts will be inaugurated in Valletta by the end of the year.

Three years late - PN

In a statement, the Nationalist Party welcomed the opening of the new school but noted it was opening three years late because the Education Ministry had not been capable of finishing it on time.

The same had happened with the school in Marsascala a year ago. The government was also five years late with the new schools at Msida and Victoria.