The Auditor General has questioned the financial feasibility of certain state primary schools, particularly those located in Gozo. 

During scholastic year 2013-2014, annual operational costs ranged from €2,660 to €9,162 per student. 

The higher costs materialise through the resultant diseconomies of scale associated with classes having a significantly lower number of students than the maximum permitted by law for the various educational levels or the national class-size average, which during the scholastic year amounted to 16 students.

Apart from raising cost efficiency issues, as has resulted from various studies carried out abroad, smaller classes do not offer additional academic or social advantages to students. 

To this end, this Report concluded that there was no correlation between the number of students in each classroom and the standardised average scores attained by Years 4, 5 and 6 students in three core subjects, namely Maltese, Mathematics and English. 

This conclusion is similar to other studies conducted by the Department for Education (United Kingdom), which focused on class size in primary schools within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.