The Malta Employers’ Association (MEA) has reacted positively to the Malta Labour Party’s (MLP) draft plan on education, the party said on Thursday.

A meeting was held between a delegation from the MEA, led by vice-president Arthur Muscat, and officials from the MLP.

Mr Muscat was quoted as saying that the MLP draft plan highlighted the problems in the Maltese educational systems, including high dropout rate, illiteracy and the need for more university graduates in the sciences. Labour leader Alfred Sant once again said he was concerned that the Maltese system had not been able to reach the targets established in the Lisbon strategy in the fields of science, information technology and research and development.

Dr Sant said he was preoccupied with the illiteracy rate in Malta.

To counter this, the party is proposing a transition year between kindergarten and Year One to teach children the basic reading and writing skills.