Government aims to reduce early school-leavers to 10% by 2020

Education minister Evarist Bartolo today outlined government plans to reduce the number of early school-leavers to 10% of 16-year-olds by 2020, in line with European Commission guidelines.

An early school-leaver is somebody who does not pursue education after secondary school.

Malta's level of early school-leavers currently stands at 22%, much higher than the EU average of 12.8%. Bartolo said this was an issue which had to be seriously addressed.

He said that less than half of fifth-formers managed to obtain six Ordinary-level examinations, the minimum number of O-levels required in order to continue with post-secondary studies, and 50% of the total students got less than five pass grades.

Furthermore, he said that Malta and Portugal topped the list of persons aged 29 or younger not possessing the required levels of education across the EU.

Bartolo said that The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) had chosen Malta to carry out a pilot project to improve vocational education in secondary schools.

Government had also set up a programme - which focuses on basic skills and on-the-job experience - for youngsters not interested in sitting for their O levels. Although 200 students had applied, Bartolo said that he was expecting the number of applicants to be close to double that.

The minister was speaking at the launch of the 2012 report published by the National Commission for Further and Higher Education.

The NCFHE report outlined that in 2012, a total of 27,781 students over the age of compulsory education were furthering their studies - the largest number recorded since such data was collected in 1995 - with the number steadily rising throughout the years.

Of this total, the share of higher education was that of 53%, whereas the share of students identified within further education was that of 47%, split by 24% for those specifically in the academic field, and 23% for those in the vocational field.