If success were to be a country, education would be its capital city – Owen Bonnici

In Parliament on Wednesday, I highlighted the budget measures for Education and Employment presented last month with the theme ‘Maltin b’Saħħitna ‘l Quddiem’.

The Maltese have long realised that education is the best tool for social mobility - the best tool which allows even the most vulnerable person to have the greatest opportunity in order to shape his or her own future, to succeed, help others move forward and give birth to another successful generation. Our country also has a hardworking Government that is delivering by creating wealth and distributing it fairly even in times of a pandemic. It is no coincidence that even in the midst of a global pandemic, we have had a strong budget for Malta to keep moving forward. As a result of the budget being strong, even our educational system will be strengthened further.

Our vision in the education sector is to continue to provide the best service of the highest quality, that our country continues to establish itself as a society built on learning, that we nurture the talents and ambitions of our young people and our children.

The budget for the year 2021 translates as an increase of €65 million for education compared to the 2020 budget, excluding European funds. This investment will be beneficial to our children and future generations. We opened the new Qawra Primary School with an investment of €13 million, another block in the Żejtun Middle and Secondary School, a footpath and a footbridge in the Ħamrun Secondary School, and laid the first stone for the construction of the Msida Primary School and another in Rabat, Gozo. By the end of the year we will also be completing the restoration of the School of Arts in Valletta. Projects that, when put together, amount to an investment of €30.5 million for the benefit of our children and students.

For next year we have a very ambitious plan when it comes to infrastructure projects in education. We will continue with the work on the extension and major work of Qormi St George’s Primary School, with an investment of around €10 million. We will also continue with the extension of Santa Luċija Secondary School with a hall for school and community use as well as new sports facilities. We will be investing in a new sports complex in the University of Malta and will start work on the extension of Victoria Primary School, Malta for the school to operate from a single building. In Nadur, Gozo we will have extension works as is planned in Għaxaq Primary School with a total investment of € 4.5 million.

Malta’s efforts for a better education system have seen a steady decline in Early School Leavers from 20.0% in 2014 to 16.7% in 2019. In 2019, there was a decrease of 0.7 points compared to the previous year. It should also be noted that in 2019, contrary to Malta’s trend, 11 out of 27 EU Member States saw the rate of early school-leavers increase.

I revisited the reopening of schools. During the summer months we went through unprecedented work to reopen our schools in a safer environment in the circumstances we are living in. Following the publication of the guidelines issued by the Health Authorities, more than 50 restrictive measures were introduced and implemented to reopen schools. Before the schools opened, inspections were carried out in schools by risk assessors and a certificate of compliance with the guidelines of health authorities was issued. During summer, all syllabi were revised up to Year 8 while MATSEC revised and continues to revise its SEC syllabi to reflect circumstantial realities without compromising quality.

A call has been issued more than once for teachers to record lessons that are on demand, and where there is a shortage of teachers coming forward, calls have continued. The lessons that have been recorded are being uploaded on a national platform and so far 1,000 lessons have been uploaded. After all the necessary preparations have been made, the first viral school is about to open, which will accommodate Primary School children who are vulnerable or coming from a vulnerable situation after an agreement was reached with the MUT.

Last year the Masters for Teaching and Learning (MTL) course was considered as a prescribed course meaning that students entering MTL get a higher stipend than students of other courses considered as ‘general’. An important measure that the Ministry has implemented for the academic year 2019/2020 is that the full-time courses of the MTL and the Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education and Care have been classified as prescribed courses. This means that full-time students who are eligible for the stipend will be receiving €159.12 instead of €90.93, an increase of €68.19 every four weeks. We want more students to take the MTL course and become educators and so I announced that we will introduce a grant to be given for teaching practice to cover the costs that the student incurs for this phase of the course. The grant will be pro-rata to the number of hours of teaching practice expected.

Free internet access, for a full year, will be provided to those students who choose to continue their studies after completing their secondary school studies. This measure will be introduced in the first quarter of 2021. Therefore all those students whose academic year 2020/2021 is their first year in post-secondary institutions and who are eligible for the stipend, in the coming year will receive an additional grant to cover internet costs for the academic year.

In addition, the cost of living will be given to students as prorata in the stipend. Since 2014, every year the cost of living was given to students as pro-rata in their stipend, benefitting about 17,000 students each academic year. In recent years, a number of measures have been introduced to provide financial support to students who continue their education beyond compulsory education.

There is a strong link between Education, Training and Employment. Even here, when it comes to employment, we have had a successful year and next year will be an even more successful one. Suffice it to say that when it comes to European statistics, Malta has remained at the forefront when it comes to job creation and economic growth. This is merit of the good policies of this Government aimed at increasing wealth and incentivize dedication and hard work. Jobsplus has, of course, played an important role in all this success and I want to thank and show appreciation to all the staff of this Agency for the work they have done. Great work has been prepared for next year, even in this Agency.

Yes, if success were to be a country, education would be its capital city. This Government is committed to continuing to improve and strengthen our country’s educational system because our children deserve the best.