Education Minister Louis Galea said yesterday that the Malta Labour Party was totally disengaged from the national debate on the education reform and appealed to the public to understand that the MLP’s education policies were in no way trustworthy.

Addressing a press conference at Robert Sammut Hall yesterday, Minister Galea said that after having analysed the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto for the forthcoming general election, he has come to the conclusion that the education sector cannot be trusted in the hands of the MLP.

Minister Galea said that even though the government had invited the MLP to participate in the national discussion on the education reform, the party refused and simply spent five years criticising every aspect of the process.

The Labour Party never gave its opinion on the various reports that had been drawn up. The topics covered included early childhood education, inclusive education, absenteeism, the network of colleges, Matsec, as well as advanced and higher education.

The MLP had voted against the education reform, said Dr Galea, adding that the party deals with the education sector in a partisan manner, as has been shown by the Labour-run media over the past five years.

The minister said the Labour Party also made a number of mistakes whenever it was in government.

He mentioned, among others, the fact that the MLP had closed down junior lyceums overnight in the 1970s, closed down the polytechnic, closed down teachers’ training colleges and sold the St Michael’s Teachers’ Training College in St Julian’s to the Libyan government.

Minister Galea said the Labour government had also shattered the sense of discipline in state schools as a result of its partisan leadership and continuous conflict with teachers and their union, tried closing down Church schools, blew apart the university and failed to invest in state schools.

The minister added that under a Labour government the education sector in Gozo was practically forgotten, while students’ stipends had also been reduced substantially.

Dr Galea described the MLP’s electoral manifesto as one that lacks a vision and clear strategy for the education sector.

He said the network of colleges was not even mentioned in the manifesto, while there is no specific proposal for the university. Neither is there any mention of the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools, which played a major role in the government’s vision to build new schools and modernise state schools.

On the other hand, the minister referred to the MLP’s proposal to introduce a reception class between kindergarten and the first year of primary school as “amateurish experimentation”. He said he never got any replies from the Labour Party as to his questions regarding the proposal, way back in October.

“When the proposal was approved as part of the party’s electoral manifesto, they told us that it was an official policy adopted following extensive consultation with teachers, parents and experts.

“We later discovered that they had not consulted with the Malta Union of Teachers, for example,” said Minister Galea, adding that the feasibility of the proposal and its implications had certainly not been looked into.

As he went on to speak about the Nationalist Party’s achievements in the education sector and its plans for it to continue strengthening it, Dr Galea mentioned the education reform, saying the aim was to provide a quality education to everyone and at every level.

He mentioned the college of networks, investment in sport facilities and the fact that the number of students in post-secondary, vocational and tertiary institutions had gone up to 22,000 in 10 years. He said seven out of every 10 youngsters aged 18 now further their studies.

Speaking about the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary, Dr Galea said the government invested e1.4million; moreover, he said, 900 out of the 1,700 students are currently following the Matsec programme like students attending Junior College. He said the government also invested in Junior College, the Institute of Tourism Studies, and supported Sixth Forms run by the Church and private entities.

Referring to the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), Dr Galea said the government would be investing e116million in a new campus.

As he mentioned a number of other projects and achievements, Dr Galea stressed the government’s plan to have 85 per cent of school-leavers furthering their studies by 2015.

Asked how the government planned to do this, considering the strain on human resources in the education sector, Dr Galea said development in this area has accelerated over the past 10 years. He said that 70 per cent of school-leavers already further their studies in post-secondary and vocational institutions and adults continue to understand the advantage of studying further, even if they do so at a later stage.

He said that when the education reform was drawn up, teachers’ conditions for was one of the major aspects under discussion. “The labour market is constantly changing and there are now more careers people may choose from. The education authorities have to work more effectively to make teaching more attractive. We will continue engaging in discussion to ensure that teachers’ conditions and the environment they work in are favourable,” he said.