Education is a cornerstone over which our future must be built. Parents see their children as being disadvantaged compared to their European colleagues. Our children and their parents deserve the ideal climate from their government for students to succeed.
Facts:
35 per cent of Malta’s unemployed are aged 25 or less. This rate of youth unemployment in Malta is 12 per cent higher than the EU’s 23 per cent.
36 per cent of our students do not continue studying post secondary level of education.
The median income for youths in Malta is circa 21 per cent of the EU average.
Government funds for training and employment initiatives are seriously depleted.
Based on these realities, Labour has made a positive statement that it intends to guarantee structures that will support youth, on a voluntary basis, after having completed their formal education.
Strong investment in the Employment and Training Corporation, coupled with incentives to the private sector, will spearhead this vision. The on-going development of youth, post formal education, will see them better equipped to join the labour market so that their participation in the employment market will reach and surpass that of their European colleagues. Our Children and their parents deserve no less. The proposal is part of a European-wide €10 billion initiative being promoted particularly by the EU Socialist Group and our Labour MEPs, and is in response to the austerity measures proposed by right-wing parties to which the Nationalist Party belongs.
Therefore, the Labour vision will affirm education and training as important drivers in economic growth and in the creation of jobs. This process will not burden the public sector. This process is an investment in ensuring economic growth and success.
Any political party that has the true interests of the country at heart will no doubt welcome these proposals and seek ways in which they can be supported and strengthened. So why have they been greeted with hysteria, abuse and negativity by GonziPN?
Events of the last 12 months suggest that Dr Gonzi’s concern is to retain power at all costs. Key issues that impact on our daily lives and those of our families are seen by Dr. Gonzi as opportunities to churn out rhetoric in his quest for long-held power. Otherwise how can one explain his amazing assertion that Labour’s proposal, based on what is happening in the EU, does not apply to Malta? Why does he want to exclude Maltese students from benefiting from evolving EU programmes? Why does he pour illogical scorn on the Labour Party as it makes such an important statement of intent for the benefit of Maltese and Gozitan students?
Sad to say, Dr Gonzi’s heart is not set on Maltese families but on an unbending craving to retain power. There is general consensus that Malta needs a new fresh impetus in Government. Dr Gonzi’s stale and power-hungry Nationalist Party is in no position to provide this impetus. It is not the Labour Party that claims an oligarchy within GonziPN has driven out important contributors. It is for this reason that Dr Gonzi’s reaction to the Labour’s guarantee is seen to be so negative, so lacking in vision and solutions, so lacking in faith in the abilities of our youth, so willing to exclude our youth from EU initiatives, and so abusive of anyone who puts forward reasoned solutions that deal with realities.
Dr Gonzi’s oligarchy is a singular obstacle to Malta’s own development. It will not tolerate proactive and effective statements of vision coming from any source, because it sees such statements as a challenge to its stale power.
Labour’s guarantee will affirm the importance of education and training in driving economic growth and in creating jobs, and will not be sidetracked by Dr Gonzi’s oligarchy.
Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi is the President of the Labour Party