The purpose of the rally was for the National Steering Committee to listen to the concerns of the parents of children still attending school.

Parents made many valid points, one of them being on the value of streaming classes.

Some said they were in favour of streaming as it allowed their child to grow and learn with other children of the same ability. Others objected to the concept of streaming because they wanted their child to be in a mixed ability environment with the aim of more able children stimulating the less able students and pupils.

In fact, one member of the steering committee said that in the same way that children physically grow at different rates, research was showing that the situation was similar in respect of mental growth.

Therefore, he said, it could be a stimulus for less able students to be with more able ones.

Another woman spoke about the fixation that Maltese schools seemed to have with uniforms, especially primary schools. “I would readily accept a dress code, but this fixation with uniforms is becoming a real annoyance, especially in a day and age where diversity and being different has become the norm,” she said.

The committee said that maybe children in secondary schools needed uniforms. “It would not be very good to not have uniforms, because you could create an element within schools of commercial competition for brand names. But on the other hand, uniforms are very expensive,” a spokesman said. He said that while there were pros and cons to each side of the coin, a decision needed to be made.

The committee also spoke about the problems related to school transport. “We know there have been problems in the past, but they have got better over the past five years or so. School vans are getting kids to school on time and picking them up as close to the time they finish as possible,” a spokesman said.

In Malta, students are picked up by bus if they live more than one kilometre away from school. As a matter of fact, foreign mini van drivers are working with one Maltese bus company under the Leonardo programme. “They said that we wrap our children in cotton wool. And we are happy that we can give them this treatment,” said Cecilia Borg from the committee.