Reform is long overdue

Malta has always invested very heavily in education. It has been a longstanding mantra that our only plentiful natural resource is our people; the future generations. Schooling has always been of paramount importance and in the last 20-odd years, post secondary education has become the norm, while more and more people are enrolling to read for university degrees. As Malta joined the EU and began to avail itself of the opportunities that this brought with it, more and more people took advantage of scholarships and funding to go on to specialise via Masters and PhDs.

We have a lot to be proud of in that respect. But somewhere along the line, the world changed – but our education system did not. What was perfectly acceptable as education 10 years ago is now outdated.

This government has done a lot to try and introduce reforms, such as more electronic learning and measures to try and discourage absenteeism. But it is clear that more needs to be done. We are striving to encourage women to go back to work after having children. The government has implemented free childcare to try and facilitate matters for them. But there is a much simpler solution on which the government is ostensibly keen, but on which it is simultaneously fearing a massive backlash – that is, extended school hours.

When people first heard about it, they thought that this would mean long drawn out school hours that would focus on academic subjects. But there is more to it than that. While Maltese students are very accomplished in academic terms, they tend to be a bit sheltered from life lessons and real life. Suffice to say that we have the highest child-obesity rates in Europe, coupled with the ridiculous one-hour average of physical education or training lessons.

We also complain that there are not enough music classes or drama classes for children. Yet, with extended school hours, this all becomes possible. In reality, children would be able to take time out of that busy schedule of school-tablet-homework-tablet-console cycle that they all seem to be into these days.

If schools and colleges were to club together to offer various activities after school hours to allow parents to stay out and work longer, then it would be a win-win situation. Kids could play football, practice dance, music or drama without their parents having to worry about who is going to have to leave work early and see to the kids. While changes will have to be made, extending school hours should not be such a dramatic thing. It is just the same as the coed pilot project. Many thought it would bring problems with it, but it seems that Maltese (and non-Maltese) children got used to it like ducks to water, as did their teachers. Perhaps it is time to just take the plunge and go for it.

It is understood that consultation and discussions are already underway. But perhaps we should all be a little bit more open to the idea and look at it as a positive and natural way forward.