As part of its activities to promote the European Year of Equal Opportunities, the National Council of Women held a certificate-giving ceremony for participants of a course in basic English skills and information technology at different levels.

In her welcome address, vice-president Doreen Micallef highlighted the need for women of all ages to make use of lifelong learning programmes to enhance their quality of life and to make use of opportunities to seek employment.

Anthony De Giovanni, Director Further Studies and Adult Education Division, Education Ministry, spoke about initiatives that are being taken to encourage men and women to participate in lifelong learning programmes.

Education Minister Louis Galea presented certificates to 80 participants for having achieved better knowledge and skills, empowering them to further their studies and improve their employability. “We need to provide women with all the necessary skills to be able to join today’s competitive workforce,” said Dr Galea in his concluding speech. He added that the government would soon be operating childcare facilities in Luqa, Gharghur and Paola Lourdes as a pilot project. The government was working to provide these facilities and train people to run them so that more families would be able to combine employment with parenthood, thus allowing more women to join the workforce.