€500 grant for parents who keep children in post-secondary school

The government will be giving parents of children who continue to study full time beyond the obligatory age €500 a year for three years, Robert Abela announced on Monday. 

The Prime Minister said that should the Labour Party be elected into government; all parents will be given €1,500 in three years if their children continue to study beyond the age of 16. 

“The measure will help sustain families together with other pledges,” Abela said. 

Abela also pledged to increase children’s allowance by €90 a year, amounting to €450 by the end of the legislature. “This will mean that parents of two children will be receiving €900 by the end of the legislature.” 

Free childcare services will also be made available to all parents, and it will not matter whether they work or not. 

He also said the one tablet per child scheme will be extended to secondary schools, and seventh-year students will receive a laptop. 

In a pledge which will cost €145 million over five years, secondary school students will also be receiving a set of books each year to encourage reading. 

On IVF, Abela said services would be widened to include more couples, while the government will push to introduce the latest technologies. 

“It hurts us to see young couples seeking medical service beyond our shores,” he said. 

The services will also be extended to people who want more than one child. Abela played down the introduction of surrogacy in the country and sidestepped a question related to PGD testing. 

“Surrogacy is a different issue to the one we are discussing today. It’s a smaller part of the population. We do not want a situation where we have ‘rented out wombs’,” he said.