The government has recently launched a public consultation on a new strategy to combat early school leaving. This is the second of its kind, as in 2015 Malta was one of the first EU countries to publish such a strategy.
The aims of the first policy applied until 2020, and so this second strategy was drafted.
While some improvements have been achieved over the past decade, Malta still ranks second to last on the EU index of early school-leavers. 16.7% of youths aged between 18 and 24 do not possess passes in 5 O-levels, which is a necessary requirement to enter most sixth forms as well as the University of Malta.
The Ministry of Education announced the creation of recovery sessions in summer, so that students who suffered from absenteeism due to the COVID-19 situation can, over summer, receive recovery compensation sessions for the time they lost.
The document also puts forward plenty of expenditure on upgrading schools’ physical infrastructure, giving electronic freebies to pupils and improving stipends to all post-secondary students.
Education Minister Justyne Caruana stated that the ministry is aiming for the measures created to go on until 2030.
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