Public consultation meeting on education attracts crowd

Vocational training, illiteracy, investment in sports and the need to help students with learning disabilities or special needs dominated this evening consultation meeting with Education Minister Evarist Bartolo and parliamentary secretary Stefan Buontempo.

By far the most attended with around 300 individuals, questions were raised by parents, unions, sports NGOs, facilitators and teachers.

The meetings, organised by the Office of the Prime Minister, form part of the 'Government that listens' campaign marking the first 100 days of a Labour government.

Changes to the Education Act in the pipeline

Bartolo revealed that the government was in the process of considering changes to the Education Act.

Referring to public schools, the government wanted its schools to be more autonomous providing more individualized services. The government, Bartolo announced, was considering seriously to include home schooling as an available option to students.

The minister went on to appeal to the Education Department at the University to develop its courses to reflect the reality at schools. Bartolo noted how there were teachers who did not know what dyslexia or autism meant.

"Inclusion is not the responsibility of LSAs alone but of all of us," he said.

Inclusion and vocational training

The education minister said that while government would continue with plans to build new schools, the priority was to refurbish the existing ones and schools left in dilapidated states. To this effect, the government has decided to allocate €15 million to repair existing schools.

He also admitted that cleanliness in schools was a major problem and government was seeking to address this problem, together with precarious employment.

"But just like we believe that schools should be accessible to all we must make sure that the education we provide is accessible to all," Bartolo said.

"What are we teaching, how are we teaching it and how are we assessing it? Does it reflect the inclusion our students merit? And that is why we have made the benchmarking more accessible."

Bartolo said so far, the system was spending more in assessing students rather than helping them to solve their problems.

Bartolo admitted that the biggest challenge was how to make education interesting to both teachers and students: if the teacher is not enjoying teaching and if the students don't enjoy learning, this is reflected in the results of students.

"Therefore, the educative programmes must be adequate for students with the biggest challenge being providing vocational programmes," he said.

By the next scholastic year, the secondary school in Rabat, Gozo, will be providing vocational subjects.

Committee language to be set up soon

Bartolo said that the ministry will soon appoint a committee for languages. He however stressed that much was needed in ensuring that students learn both Maltese and English well.

"Our students need to be fluent in both languages if they are to succeed in their education," he said.

At one point, the minister questioned whether it was fair that students who couldn't learn Maltese would be hindered from studying at the University of Malta.

Sports

Parliamentary secretary Stefan Buontempo revealed how sports NGOs were promised land devolution in the last days before the 9 March elections, with some even being "contacted" by the previous administration on 8 March to sign the memorandum of understanding.

In the rush, Buontempo added, pieces of lands which were "ODZ or in zones with environmental problems" were promised.

He said the government was four square behind sports organizations and was also committed to support athletes who were still studying. By way of example, Buontempo said government had arranged for an athlete who took part in the small nations games to sit for his A-level exams in Luxembourg. The athlete risked skipping the games to sit for his exam.

The junior minister said government would invest in facilities for various sports discipline in Malta. He noted that of 300 existent sports facilities, 100 of these were football grounds whereas other disciplines were even sharing the same facility.