On Thursday 24 May The Malta Independent reported that the “number of births in Malta skyrocketed between 2008 and 2017”.

In fact it was reported (quoting an answer to a Parliamentary Question) that in 2008 there were 4,466 registered births while in 2017 there were 7,712 births registered. That indicates an increase of nearly 73%.

I have no reason to query the veracity of this information. However, I must remark that the information itself led me to ask several questions. 

Has the number of marriages increased by the same rate? Has the number of children born to the different families increased in the same way? How many of these children were born to Maltese women? How many were born to non Maltese women?

Yet I will delve into a number of other questions which may be important for the future of these very children that have been born. Today's children will be tomorrow's grownups. They will have to be educated, and for some of these children the period of formal education has already started.

Children need classrooms or other spaces where to get their education. At the early stages of the educational life, most children will have to attend school in the very locality they reside (with their parents).

 For this reason, I believe it is extremely important that an analysis takes place about the localities from which these children are coming. Schools are not built overnight, and if the rate of increase of child birth continues, or even if it does not slow down, it may mean that several schools will have to be enlarged, or new ones built.

We all know that there are various localities where the existing public schools are facing a huge spatial problem. The St Paul's Bay primary school has over a thousand students, somehow crammed in a space that can hold many less. A new school in Qawra, which was supposed to open its doors for the 2017/2018 scholastic year is nowhere near completion, and it is only fair to assume it will not be ready for use during the next scholastic year. 

In Mellieha, where the problem is not yet that acute, there are already signs of the spatial problems that hit other localities. In fact a number of classes have been driven out of the school itself.

This reality exists in other localities as well. With the increase in births, it is only fair to assume that other localities will suffer from the shortage of space required for our children's education.

Then there is another, perhaps more serious problem which one has to prepare for. 

 With the shortage of teachers already felt, and with the apparent lack of attraction for students to follow the teaching training, the government must be on the look out to avoid (in the not so far future), to have a shortage of space combined with a shortage of teachers.

Over the past years I have realised that planning long term has not been (and still is not), the present government's priority. However, this particular area of our daily life requires a thorough understanding of what is happening in our country. 

It is only fair to remember that all children born here will require the necessary training to have a fulfilled life later on. However, that fulfilment could be hampered if we do not understand the real changes taking place around us.

That is why we have to look deeper, and try to understand, and understand correctly, the indications of the various numbers we encounter on a daily basis.