Over 600 students apply for free SEC revision classes

Free revision classes for September resits • Video by Ray Attard

676 students have so far applied for the free revision classes being offered by the government for those sitting for the September O'level resits in Maltese, English, mathematics and physics.

In all, there were 250 applications for Maltese, 342 for English, 418 for mathematics and 220 for physics.

Applications are open until Wednesday and the Minister for Education hopes more students will take up the free lessons, with six hours a week of study dedicated to every subject.

"We have a high rate of early school leavers at 20.9%, which also means that these students are finishing their secondary school without acquiring the basic skills," Minister Evarist Bartolo said.

According to information provided by the ministry, a collective figure of 4,100 was registered in the four subjects where students obtained a a grade 6, 7, unclassified or absent. The figure excludes those students who did not apply to sit for the exams.

The government has set an ambitious target of a 10% or less early-school leaving figure.

While expressing concern at the high rate of unsatisfactory results in basic subjects such as English, Maltese or mathematics, Bartolo acknowledged that the examination methodology used by SEC did not measure other intelligences, such as technical intelligence.

The free revision classes, to be given by warranted teachers, are being funded through the Youth Guarantee project. While other EU Member States will be focusing their Youth Guarantee project to tackle youth unemployment, Malta will be focusing it on early school leaving, which is the biggest problem amongst Maltese youths.

"The biggest problem in Malta is not youth unemployment but the high rate of youths that leave education without the necessary skills. Therefore our Youth Guarantee is tied with early school leaving. The priority of Youth Guarantee is to encourage students to continue training or studying," the minister said.

Bartolo said a satisfactory result would be for students to obtain a level 3 after 13 years in education.

Revision classes are set to start on 28 July.