Nearly 60,000 students back to school
59,221 students and 10,366 educators took were back to school after their summer holidays.
As expected, there was heavier traffic on the roads yesterday morning as government schools re-opened and thousands of students returned to their classrooms after the summer holidays. The new scholastic year is also the first real test of the newly-introduced free school transport system which has been made available to all schools, including those run privately and by the Church.
There are 8,731 students in kindergarten, 25,860 in primary schools, 20,939 and middle and secondary schools and 3,691 in post-secondary schools. The number of educators total 10,366, of whom 5,574 are teachers, 3,528 learning support assistants and 709 kindergarten assistants.
On Monday, when some private and Church schools re-opened their doors, there was a smooth implementation of the system. Stakeholders said that Monday morning’s feared traffic congestion on the first day of the free school transport system did not materialise and, instead, it was an overall success in terms of consistent flow of traffic.
Representatives from the Minibus Cooperative, Police, and Transport Malta all observed an increase in traffic flow, although the traffic is said to have improved considerable in comparison to last year. In fact, like Wednesday, the majority of traffic was centered around areas currently undergoing maintenance or upgrades such as the Marsa Bypass and San Gwann.
Drivers on the road experienced heavier traffic flow, but this is not necessarily because of the opening of the schools. Most reports of traffic congestion are coming from areas where road works are taking place, such as the road between Gharghur and San Gwann and the Marsa area.
Changes to Education system
With regards to education itself, new syllabi and learning programmes will be implemented in Kindergarten 1, Year 3 and Year 7. A four-year programme will be introduced gradually.
Students’ assessments will be strengthened while mid-year exams for students between Year 4 and Year 8 will be eliminated. These exams for Years 9 and 11 will be eliminated gradually.
MATSEC exams will be free of charge as from this year, while school transport will also be free of charge.