President Edward Fenech Adami yesterday laid the foundation stone for the new Mikiel Anton Vassalli Junior Lyceum School in Qormi.
“The new school is a step forward in the transformation of students who start out as boys into youths,” said Dr Fenech Adami.
The government has invested Lm3 million in the new school, which should be completed in the next two years.
Education, Employment and Youth Minister Louis Galea explained that the new school forms part of the government’s new educational outlook.
“Through these schools we want to lead all students to success and to finish their schooling,” he said.
Dr Galea said the new school will form part of the College, bringing together the primary schools of Qormi, Zebbug and Siggiewi.
The pilot projects carried out this past scholastic year gave a clear indication that schools involved in the colleges gave better results over schools working individually, he said.
Although it was a long process, all state schools in Malta and Gozo will be networked into a system of colleges by the end of September, Dr Galea said.
“Parliament will soon discuss the amendments to the Education Act which will provide the legal basis of the colleges,” he added.
Works will soon start on the new secondary school in Cospicua which is currently housing the Giuseppi Despott Junior Lyceum for boys in Verdala.
It is estimated that the new Mikiel Anton Vassalli School will ready by the end of 2007. Dr Galea explained that tenders for services will be issued soon and the new school should be completed in 2008.
This is the second school commissioned by the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools – the first was St Benedict’s College in Kirkop.
It boasts over 12,000 square metres of classrooms over four storeys, catering for a maximum of 1,000 students. It will have 40 classes, computer and science labs, special classrooms for drama, music, arts and ceramics, environmental studies, home economics, a chapel and a library among other facilities.
Dr Galea pointed out that lessons have continued as usual while the new school was being built. “As soon as the school is completed, the students will start using it and the old school will be fully modernised.”