Education minister announces €35 million investment to increase employment

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said that employing people with a disability is not a matter of charity, but of rights. Speaking at the Mtarfa ETC centre on the occasion of the launch of the Sheltered Employment Scheme, Bartolo announced plans to invest €35 million to get more people in work, including the disabled.

The minister said that it was “senseless to invest millions in inclusive education up till people are 16 and then not help them join the workforce, but bury them alive.”

Parliamentary Secretary for  for Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Aging Justyne Caruana stressed that the emphasis should be on promoting abilities and opening doors, because this is what “social inclusion” really means.

“We not only want to train, but we must give opportunities to keep the disabled in work”. Caruana thanked employers for their support, saying that the disabled “give more than they will take. Research shows that they are loyal and dedicated workers and will provide ‘value for money’.

Bartolo and Caruana were also shown around a workshop which sorts plastic components for Playmobil and is staffed entirely by disabled persons. The ministers spoke briefly with the workers there.

ETC CEO Philip Rizzo announced that out of the people of employable age in Malta, some 30,000 are disabled. Of this number, only 2,000 are actually in work.

The ETC collaborated with INSPIRE and the EU to offer the scheme. Citing a “good response from employers”, Rizzo explained that the scheme provides some training at ETC centres and other training at the place of work.