In his review of the third year of the current legislature, the Prime Minister emphasised the fact that the government chose to focus on the creation of productive jobs whilst maintaining high levels of investment in education, health, social services and the environment.

Maintaining, if not improving, our standard of living at a time when dark clouds loomed on the horizon was no easy task. Challenges such as the global financial and economic crises, the rise in the price of oil and cereals and the political instability in the southern Mediterranean region made the challenge an even tougher one.

Nonetheless, whilst many other countries embarked on a number of austerity measures, we continued to invest in our country and its people. We invested in schools and learning tools, in a new breast-screening centre and a new oncology hospital and also in parks, squares and open spaces. While we invested heavily to encourage business we have, year in, year out, allocated more or less 50 per cent of our national expenditure to the social sector. The person has consistently remained at the centre of our policies.

Work as an effective tool of solidarity

The creation of work is the most effective and practical manifestation of solidarity. It is the key to success for our families and the-up-and coming generation.

Figures confirm an increase in the numbers of those gainfully employed and a fall in those who are registering for work. Job creation was amongst the strongest in Europe – Malta is one of the five EU member states with the lowest number of unemployed and in terms of unemployed young people, it is in fourth place. There are several reasons for satisfaction, especially in the increase in numbers in our youth labour force, and first among these is the government’s commitment to provide the right tools and opportunities.

Empowering youth through

education and participation

The launching of Agenzija Żgħażagħ has been another milestone in the history of our country’s youth service. It takes the recently revised National Youth Policy as its compass, thus ensuring that our perspectives of our young people are incorporated in the government’s policies. The agency will be the driving force behind the National Youth Empowerment Programme which is intended to equip young people with various skills through non-formal education, while giving them access to active participation.

The Youth Local Councils, a project within the National Youth Empowerment Programme, has already given 360 of our young people an opportunity to participate in the decision process of their respective communities. Other programmes include the portal for youths which includes all necessary and up-to-date information to help them make the right decisions, VolTours, which was appropriately launched during this, the Year of Volunteering, which is aimed at motivating our young people to gain experience in voluntary work, and the Literary Contest, which is intended to encourage established authors to write literature for young people in the Maltese language and also to encourage young writers to submit their literary work.

Knowing very well that education is fundamental to any progress, the government wisely and proudly invested €330m in education in this year’s budget. Thanks to important reforms, a marked improvement has been registered at all levels – starting from kindergartens, where our children are introduced to e-learning, to tertiary education, where a record number of 18,000 students are following courses at the university, MCAST or the Institute for Tourism Studies and also receive stipends totalling €23million annually. Hundreds of scholarships were awarded during 2010 and will be offered again this year.

Sport as a way of life

The equivalent of €5.5m was distributed in assistance to various sporting organisations in 2010. We now have a further 16 football pitches covered with UEFA-approved synthetic turf and a new Outdoor Fitness Centre at Ta’ Qali now complements the Adventure Park, which has already registered a resounding success.

During the last scholastic year, 28,000 students (non-exclusive) took part in the activities that were planned by the Sport Promotion Unit and which take place before, during and after school hours. As from this year we will be extending the Fundamental Basic Sports Skills programme to all year 3, 4 and 5 students of all state primary schools where, over a number of weeks, they will be introduced to the basics of three sports disciplines: athletics, gymnastics and swimming. In the last scholastic year, more than 3,300 students took part in this programme.

Last year we successfully doubled the amount of incoming sport tourism via our sports organisations which meant an additional 41,000 bed-nights, while sporting activities within the community continued to flourish, with the 138 events organised by 27 local councils attracting 3600 participants.

This will be yet another challenging year for the present administration and for the country, and we are determined to face it with the same courage and determination that we have shown over the last few years.

Clyde Puli is the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport