Updated | Over 600 students did not sit for SEC exams- Labour

Adds education ministry's statement at 3:38pm

A total of 468 16-year-olds failed to register for this year's SEC exams while over 200 of registered 16-year-old students did not show up for their exams, said Labour MP Evarist Bartolo.

During a press conference held this afternoon, the Opposition education spokesperson explained that the "very valid" MATSEC report published every January is largely ignored by the press and added "if the government is not intoxicated by its own propaganda, a national debate on MATSEC's honest analysis could be held."

The MP explained that the MATSEC report bases it statistics on the 16-year-old cohort and not only on those that actually sit for the exams.

He accused the government of being over-enthusiastic and bloating the success rates. Bartolo noted that when the first results where published the government said these had been very encouraging.

In an official statement, the government had said that 90% of students had passed their Maltese and English exams, 93% passed in mathematics, 94% in computer studies and 90% in physics.

Bartolo said that government includes students who get grades 6 and 7 to inflate the figures. "What marks do these students really obtain when they are given grade 6 and 7? Should we be satisfied or should we have higher expectations in our quest to achieve more?"

"Should we ignore the 468 students who failed to register for SEC exams? Should we overlook the over 200 students who gave up and did not show up for their exams despite registering? What about the students with learning difficulties or with disability?" the former education minister asked.

Bartolo also noted that according to the MATSEC report published in January 2012, only 44.5% of youths born in 1995 obtained grades between 1-5 which allows students to continue their studies at Form 6 level.

"What about our young men and women with learning difficulties and disabilities?" Bartolo asked.

The MP explained that in 2011 over 460 students suffering from dyslexia were eligible to sit for the SEC exams, however only121 of them registered.

Out of these 39 obtained a grade 1-5 in English, 12 in computer studies, 23 in Maltese and 31 in Physics.

"If we really want to improve our education system and increase the opportunities in life for our young people, we need to a frank carry out an honest evaluation of the education system."

Bartolo stressed that there is room for improvement in our educational system. Citing the TIMSS 2007 report and the PISA 2009 report, which evaluate education systems the world over Bartolo said that the Maltese system is classified as 'not bad.'

He added that in the TIMSS report only Cypriot students fared worse within the EU27 while Romania obtained the same score as Malta.

Addressing the press conference Labour MP Owen Bonnici said. Bonnici said education is one of the main challenges ahead of the country and said "Everybody needs to be on board in order to make Malta competitive and have young people qualified and prepared for the labour market."

He stressed the need for more young people to study at tertiary level and said it was not acceptable to only have 70% of students continuing their education after age 16, and 60% of 19-year-olds continuing their education.

Meanwhile in its reaction, the education ministry accused Labour MP Evarist Bartolo of labelling students as failures since he insists on measuring the rate of success based on students who obtain grades 1-5.

"Only students who obtain the necessary grades to enter sixth form are taken into consideration by Evarist Bartolo. He considers the rest as failures. This stinks of opportunism and dishonesty which turns education into a political football." 

The statement added that the thousands of students who attebnt Mcast, The Institute for Tourism Studies (ITS) and the Higher Secondary Schools in Naxxar and Gozo are failures or inexistent in Bartolo's eyes.

The Ministry added "the Labour Party still embraces a selective educational policy while the Nationalist Government always put into practice an inclusive educational policy."