The figures are improving, but we’re not there yet. In fact, we’re still quite far away.

In a report by the European Union entitled “Progress towards the Lisbon objectives in education and training”, published last week, it was noted that Malta was at the bottom with 37.6 per cent of students leaving school early.

The EU target is that, by 2010, only 10 per cent of students leave school at the end of compulsory education. That is only two years away, and we’re far behind. The thing is, according to a press statement issued by the Education Ministry to defend the government’s work, the aim is to bring the 37.6 per cent mark to 20 per cent by 2015 – that is double the percentage advocated by the EU, and five years later too.

So, where are we heading?

The same ministry statement points out that 98 per cent of children complete secondary education up to the compulsory age and that the percentage of students aged 17 and over choose to further their studies has risen from 49 per cent in the year 2000 to 66 per cent last year. A good jump indeed, but still not enough.

The government is trying to defend itself by saying that “the reason for the delay... is the fact that increasing participation rates in the post-secondary segment is a multi-faceted challenge”.

We have, of course, come a long way in the past two decades. When one considers that, in 1987, the university doors were open to a few hundred students and now the complex at Tal-Qroqq is bursting at the seams with a few thousand students, then the difference is quite glaring.

Added to this, the government has re-established the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology, where another few thousand students with different skills and abilities follow courses in areas where Malta is fast progressing. There will be further investment of e100 million for the modernisation and expansion of MCAST in the coming years.

The ministry has said that two studies are being conducted to analyse the impact of streaming at the age of 11 and the impact of factors that influence student choice during the transition from compulsory secondary education to post-secondary education.

Both are good ideas, but the ministry stopped short of saying when these studies are to be concluded and when any of the recommendations will be implemented. It seems that we are taking it easy, when we should we hurrying things up a bit more.

The government has invested heavily in the education sector over the years, both in terms of the facilities provided and the resources that are made available to the younger generations. The college system that was introduced in the last term is still in its early stages and one has to wait some more years before passing a more comprehensive judgment as to its validity or otherwise.

Yet, what seems to be lacking is the vocational direction that students should be given, as early as possible. We seem to be intent of feeding our students as much information and knowledge as possible, when it would perhaps be a better idea to concentrate their efforts in areas that the students are more comfortable with.

Why should, for example, students have to continue studying science subjects when they have no inkling to follow that line?

There should be a stronger effort in the secondary school years to direct students towards those areas that they wish to take up. In this way, students would be more encouraged to study those subjects they like and do not waste time on others they will never make use of.