The proposals put forward in a consultation document to review the way students move from primary to secondary level education aims to remove the streaming mechanism in state schools and eliminate the common entrance examination. This will obviously mean that the junior lyceum network will be phased out while the college system introduced a few years ago takes over completely.

For many years, students in the last years of government primary schooling were embroiled in long hours of studying and private lessons to be able to make the grade – pass on to the Junior Lyceum. Each year, the number of students who did obtain the necessary good results increased, so much so that we have reached a 60 per cent pass rate.

This positive outcome however had its drawbacks, particularly on the children, who were required to undergo a period of stress at such an early age (10 and 11 years) in order to try to find a place in the best government schools available. With this came a strong movement to do away with the streaming system and the start of the colleges project, and this concoction has now brought us to the present situation – with the government aiming to completely change the transition from primary to secondary education.

One of the reasons that is being given is that the elimination of the streaming mechanism and the entrance examination concept is to give all students the opportunity to succeed. There are students who are late developers and who are “lost” simply because they do not make it to the Junior Lyceum. Others suffer undue pressure and do not give their best during examinations.

Agreed. The elimination of streaming will result in less pressure on the students and open the way for a more comprehensive educational system. Too often, our children learn only what they need to pass the examination, and the educational system does not provide them with a wider array of knowledge that their foreign counterparts have.

The removal of the common entrance exams will also mean financial relief for the parents as well as the elimination of stress on the children, while the introduction of an oral-aural component in English and Maltese as part of the final examinations at the end of the primary school level is also welcome.

But there is another side of the coin. No streaming means that students of different abilities will be grouped together, and this could slow down the progress of the brighter students while the less bright try to catch up. It is hoped that, while the intentions behind such a change are good, we do not end up “losing” the brighter students, or not attain from them as much as they are capable of.

This newspaper has always spoken in favour of obtaining the best out of everyone because Malta needs all the human resources it can have, but this should not come at the cost of slowing the progress of the brighter students.

One other consideration that needs to be made is that there needs to be a culture change in the way teachers deal with their primary school children once the new system is in place. From a system that is solely based on passing the Junior Lyceum examinations, primary school teachers will have to move on to a new way of teaching their students, one that is not exam-oriented. Will they be receiving some form of training or guidance to change their ways?

It has been announced that the system will, if approved, be introduced for students who are currently in Year 4. That gives all the stakeholders two and a half years to sort out all the difficulties that such a change could bring about, and at the same time prepare for a transition that will change the face of our education system.

For the better, it is hoped.