Malta – failing in education

Last week, Maltese schoolchildren returned to school after three months of holidays. This is the time of year when we hear the usual accolades about the importance of education and how much money the government has spent on refurbishing schools and building new sports and education facilities.

The relative prosperity of our country, despite our lack of resources and a tiny market, is frequently attributed to our level of education. I'm afraid that this could not be further from the truth.

In my opinion, we are benefitting from our colonial inheritance of the English language and culture - however it is definitely not educational attainment that is our forte. A quick look at Malta's rate of tertiary education in 30-34 year olds, where our country languishes in last place along with Italy and Romania, shows how ridiculous it is to claim that our highly skilled and educated workforce is what is attracting investors.

An island with a tiny population like ours naturally has a small work force when compared to larger countries. However, the fact that the percentage of youngsters who get a decent tertiary education is less than that of other EU countries means that the problem is exacerbated. The situation is further compounded by the fact that we are topping the charts when it comes to the percentage of students studying arts but close to the bottom in engineering. (So much for investing in a high value-added and skilled workforce...)

Our one saving grace is the number of students who are opting for computing, spurred on by talk of Smart City and good jobs with gaming companies.

A cursory look at Unesco's data on tertiary education enrolment by country follows a similar pattern to the Eurostat data, with countries with a high GDP (like northern European and north American countries) at the top of the table, while those with a lower GDP at the bottom of the table (exceptions to this are some oil-rich Middle Eastern countries that have a high GDP with lowish university enrolment).

One noticeable worrying factor is that ex-communist Eastern European countries, which currently lag behind us in GDP, have percentage rates of tertiary education enrolment that are twice as large (or more) than ours. How many years will it take for this advantage in education to result in these countries overtaking us in GDP per capita?

I am convinced that the government is well aware that our education levels are falling behind the rest of Europe. A number of initiatives have been launched in the last few years, such as the development of MCAST, bursaries for MSc and PhD students, and the pushing of science and IT. Unfortunately, however, instead of being honest and admitting that we have a problem, the government has for years boasted that we are achieving major successes in the education stakes.

My fear is that by simply focusing on the fact that the number of university students is increasing, instead of looking at the actual percentage of students who make it to University, the government has become complacent. The fact is that we are simply too far behind our European counterparts to be able to pat ourselves on the back.

Malta has an advantage in being a small country. Any radical plan to give our educational system a turbo boost is much easier to implement than it would be for a large country. Singapore is a clear example of a small country which has managed to grow to stellar proportions, despite having a smaller GDP than ours 50 years ago, and with no resources to hand, except for people. Singapore is run like a company, with the government setting goals and targets. Unless the Maltese people are made aware that we are lagging behind our European neighbours and that we need to reach a pre-determined target, then it will be difficult for the government to get the tax payer to make sacrifices to improve our education system.

I would like to see a billboard stating 'We promise 30% university enrolment in 5 years' - that would certainly beat the meaningless images and marketing slogans that we are bombarded with nowadays.

The advantage of setting a national goal or target is that it would make something like education more visible. We all like to see nice roundabouts, beautiful parliaments and break-water bridges. Politicians know that these bolster our national ego because they are visible and they look good. Unfortunately, however, increasing the number of schooling hours, improving financial remuneration to maths and science teachers (etc) is not quite as visible or politically motivating.

It is time to take education seriously, before it is way too late.