1,373 students have applied for the SEC revision classes, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said this morning.

Speaking at a visit to the MCAST campus in Paola, Mr Bartolo said there were in all 2,348 applications for revision courses in the four core subjects – Maltese, English, Maths and Physics. 770 applied for maths, 692 applied for English, 500 for Maltese and 386 for physics.

The courses are being held at MCAST in Paola and another centre in Blata l-Bajda and the attendance rate is 68%.

These courses are being offered for free as part of the government’s Youth Guarantee, which includes four initiatives. Mr Bartolo said the biggest problem is not youth unemployment but rather unskilled youths. One of the initiatives that form part of the Youth Guarantee is aimed at helping early unskilled school leavers turn to studying or skills courses. But Mr Bartolo said he was disappointed that only 400 had taken up the government’s offer. The Ministry had sent out 7,000 invitations. A good number of them are youths between the ages of 18 and 25 who neither study nor work. Most do not even register for work.

MCAST Principal Stephen Cachia said a number of college students are sitting for revision courses in order to be able to advance to level three. The students are therefore being given the chance to make up for their low grades during the summer, instead of repeating a whole year next year.