The summer break is over. It’s back to school and the start of any scholastic year is a fascinating experience: new teachers, new books, old and new friends and, in certain cases, it is also a new school. More than a hundred state schools will reopen their doors to greet more than 34,000 students who will be returning to their classrooms this Monday.

Toddlers who start their early childhood education through the pre school system with the commencement of formal teaching make their mothers somewhat excited. Maybe the worry about little Tommy in a new environment without mummy! That first day is the beginning of a long road that stretches through compulsory education and beyond. Of course, Freshers’ Week at University would be a totally different experience, but none the less exciting.

Vision 2015 and the Centrality of Education

Government’s wider vision for Malta to become a regional centre of excellence in hospitality, health care, financial and educational services demands the best possible tuition at all levels.

Actually, nothing is being spared in order to reach these ambitious targets. Education plays a vital role in Government’s strategy towards the attainment of the Vision 2015 equation. Under Minister Dolores Cristina, the Education Ministry has worked relentlessly towards the attainment of this vision.

State education is free in spite of hundreds of millions of euros being pumped into educational institutions, year in year out. Planning and investment stretches from early childhood education to the post-graduate years. Government intends to keep building a new state-of-the-art school every year until 2020. At the same time, millions are being invested on maintenance work in existing schools. The new school in Pembroke will follow those built recently in Kirkop, Qormi and Cospicua, while maintenance work has been carried out at some 60 schools.

For the new scholastic year, the Education Ministry has employed another 110 teachers. These will join a total of 851 teachers serving in primary schools, 2,011 in secondary schools, 420 kindergarten assistants and 1, 287 learning support assistants.

Post Secondary & Post Graduate Study

Certain changes that have been introduced in the educational field during the last couple of decades have ensured that the number of students pursuing their studies beyond their secondary education has increased tremendously.

This increase would not have been possible without the introduction of new centres and the offer of a wide variety of courses. This year, the Institute for Tourism Studies, which was set up in the late 1980s and early 1990s, has 550 full-time students, with over 400 expected to join in part-time courses. Such is its standard that this year it has attracted students from 21 countries.

The government’s decision to re-open the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology must also be commended. Through its various institutes, MCAST is providing vocational and professional education to over 7,000 full-time and part-time students. Were it not for institutions like ITS and MCAST, who would supply companies such as Lufthansa Technik and those in the tourism sector?

Just under 10,000 students attend the University of Malta and we keep striving to reach greater numbers of entry to tertiary education, with EU levels in mind. Maybe it is pertinent to mention that 15,000 students receive a stipend, meaning that Government is investing e21m annually to attract more students to higher levels of education.

Further to all this, and with the aim of encouraging university graduates to pursue post-graduate studies, a few years ago the government introduced a number of scholarship schemes. It is expected that, by 2010, more than 600 students will have specialised in different academic disciplines.

A highly trained work force

In the meantime, government continues to do its best to attract investment to our shores and, credit crunch or not, the interest is there. To this end we have to make sure that we have a highly trained workforce and we can only do this through heavy investment in our best resource, that is, ourselves and especially our young generation. It is obvious that education costs money but, as the saying goes, so does ignorance.

Clyde Puli is the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport