Youths participating in today’s youth parliamentary session highlighted that the introduction of streaming proposed by the minister of education under a different name, that of banding, is simply a buzzword.

One youth highlighted that he had been placed in a mixed ability class and this thought him how to “work with everyone”, be it pupils who are in the fast lane and those with learning difficulties.

In a bid to convince the Education Ministry to do away with such a concept, he said: “Do not fear the concept of mixed ability classes.”

Climate change, education, methods to enhance tourism, more efficient measures for transport, infrastructure, and decriminalisation of drugs were some of the subjects raised today’s youth parliamentary session held in Parliament in the presence of MPs from both sides of the House, and ministers.

Today’s session was chaired by Speaker Censu Galea. He said that he has no doubt youths follow what political parties are doing throughout the year and “your presence today is to make a difference”.

One side of the house also found time to raise a point of order, which led to the Speaker to intervene and jokingly say: “Let’s refrain from point of orders to avoid a repeat of what goes on normally in parliament”.

In her opening remarks, National Youth Parliament president Isabelle Camilleri said that this would be the last time the youth parliament would be held at the present premises and the next time round would take place in the new parliament.

“Let’s have a look how Malta moved forward since Malta achieved its independence,” she said, mainly referring to Malta’s joining of the EU, and the introduction of local council and European Parliament elections.

“Youths do not want to listen to buzzwords but want politicians to put their words into action,” she continued.

She said that youths should not fear expressing an opinion either.

Quoting Nelson Mandela, one side of the house made up of an unknown party comprising a number of youths, said that ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’.

“Classes should not have more than 20 students so the maximum attention can be given to students by teachers," the spokesperson for the party said.

Turning to tourism, the spokesperson said they believe it is a source of investment and therefore the government should emerge with more incentives to help boost the industry.

“We should invest further in education leading to more skilled workers.

“Malta should serve as a showcase of tourism especially in niche tourism as we did in the case of sport and tourism where the two were combined when sport complexes were upgraded to attract tourists to practice their sport on our islands.

“Tourism and the economy go hand in hand, therefore we believe that we need more low cost airlines flying in and out of Malta since this is helping bring about competition, leading to more tourists visiting our islands.”

In his intervention, Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change Minister Leo Brincat said that a number of summits set to tackle climate change are planned.

“The biggest challenge will be the main summit to be held at the end of next year in Paris where it is expected that what was not done in Copenhagen some time ago, will be done then, to address climate change by all countries reaching an agreement,” he said.

Shadow education minister Joe Cassar noted that there has been a massive leap to how today’s youths communicate and raise certain issues, leading to debates.

“I felt I was participating in a normal parliamentary session,” he said of today’s youth parliamentary session.

On education, he said it is not simple to draw a line and say this concept is good and the other is bad since education, in itself, for many years, varied, especially due to changes in culture.

“Today’s generation of youths cannot ever think it the same as the generation which came before you,” he said.

“The main point before someone starts speaking about the banding and mixed ability concepts is the concept that each and every person is unique and has a right to advance in his or her talents,” he said.

Dr Cassar said that people have to be looked at in a holistic manner; one has to start off by looking at a person’s abilities and work around them.

He said that he was astounded by today’s youth talent, referring to an exhibition held at Mcast he visited.

PN MP Robert Cutajar, spoke on the importance of tourism since it is our bread and butter, adding that everyone, big or small, can contribute to the tourism sector.

He urged youths to speak out in public and feel free to state whether things are moving in the right direction so that they can be protagonists and not simply spectators, mainly referring to the issue of Vote 16 when, during last year’s parliamentary session, this particular issue had been raised but a year down the line the government was now considering whether it should hold the local council elections.

“We cannot say one thing in front of youths during these parliamentary sessions and then go back on our word a year later,” he said.

Mr Cutajar said that he is strongly in favour of the Vote 16.

Regarding the decriminalisation of drugs, youths pointed out that the White Paper states that if a person is caught multiple times using cannabis he is warned indefinitely by the Justice Commissioner.

The youths are proposing that the Commissioner of Justice will be able to verify if the said person has an ongoing cannabis problem due to the fact that the said person would have been caught multiple times, and if so should be referred to the board for further assessment and treatment.

In other words, those found to be using cannabis multiple times but not recreationally should be referred for treatment and not simply taken in front of the Commissioner of Justice each time and simply warned.

“It could be a case where a person is caught using cannabis once or twice in his life but is unfortunate and is caught doing so. In this case, it is hardly necessary for such a person to be referred to for treatment. But there may be cases where a person is using cannabis all day long (along with harder drugs) and this is why we have proposed an amendment to the White Paper,” the youths explained.

Before presenting their proposal, youths met up with stakeholders and the minister responsible, in this case Justice Minister Owen Bonnici.

On Sliema’s traffic congestions, youths said that a park and ride system needs to be set up so that the locality can enjoy cleaner air.

They said that double deckers should be used in localities which are most frequented and free Wi Fi introduced on buses.