School is back. For those of us with little ones, who are not yet tormented by our burdensome Matsec system this is a happy time both for parents and children. However, for those with children aged 12 and over and the preparation for Matsec is already looming, it is a time of stress and apprehension.

One of the things we should be less proud of in our education system (although there are good things, some great schools, many hard-working teachers, and a lot of government investment) is the private lesson culture. The school term has just started and while scores of kids take extra curricular classes in dance, football, drama or other sports, which is great and commendable, too many are also taking extra tuition in subjects in order to pass their Matsec exams.

The Matsec exams must have something intrinsically wrong with them if private lessons are, and indeed have become, the norm. Something is not right but when are we going to admit it? We start off our kids with writing and reading earlier than most, yet they still need extra lessons to be able to pass the Matsec exams.

It's the same with religion. School lessons are not deemed enough so we have to ferry our kids a few times a week for extra lessons for religion too! Can we stop this unfairness?

This is just a country of extremes. There is so much good and yet we ruin it with extreme measures in almost every area you can think of. This is a tiny country with many great brains, many good people and many many opinions. We threw out the foreign exam system and introduced our own. So far so good. Matsec rules. But is it better than anything that done before just because it is home grown? It doesn't appear that way to me right now and to many other members of Malta's so far silent middle classes on this issue.

Every year the Matsec exams become tougher. Students have to buy books written by examiners and others, who profit. Exams are too tough so private lessons become a necessary evil. To me it should be national badge of shame that a school cannot adequately prepare its pupils for the Matsec exams, and that private lessons are needed. I know this is good for teachers’ income, but wouldn't it be great if our kids could pass their exams without needing extra lessons?

And I'm not talking about deprived children, or dyslexic children needing some coaching. I am emphatically not criticising our schools, particularly not the one my daughter attends, Chiswick House School, where so much effort does go into trying to develop the kids in a balanced and happy environment, while stimulating them with lessons in music for example.

In fact, my child was lucky enough to get a place in one of our Church schools, not one of the best ones admittedly. But I chose the fee-paying option because I do not want my child pushed too young too much. There are some fantastic Church schools, academically at least, but they push too hard too young, and that is not what I want for my daughter. If I can delay this I am willing to pay for it, as are many other Maltese parents who make great sacrifices to send their kids to private schools. A sacrifice which in financial terms saves the government a great deal of money, and which merits more compensation than is currently the case perhaps, though at least there has been a start in this area.

Reduce the content of the Matsec exams. Remove the conflicts of interest between examiners and the books children have to buy. Restore some sanity to a system that is bordering on the insane in terms of the demands it is making on our kids, on our pockets and on our kid's futures?

[email protected]