The European Commission, by way of its High Level Group of Experts on Literacy, this week issued an urgent wake-up call to all EU member states in the run up to the start of the new school year to do something about their concerning literacy rates.

And in Malta’s case, the call is even more urgent and the statistics as far as Malta is concerned also make for sobering reading. At an average of 36.3 per cent of 15-years-olds with substandard reading skills, Malta is the third worst performer in terms of teen reading literacy in the EU and is just behind Romania (40.4 per cent) and Bulgaria (41 per cent), an EU conference on ‘Literacy for All’ held under the EU’s Cypriot Presidency heard this week in Nicosia.

The figures are a far cry from top literacy performer Finland’s 8.1 per cent and even from the EU average of 19.7 per cent − the countries that Malta’s current 15-year-olds will be competing with for jobs in the near future when their time comes.

EU education ministers have set a joint target to reduce the ratio of 15-year-olds with poor reading skills from the current 19.7 per cent to 15 per cent by 2020, and Malta clearly has a long way yet to go in the area.

But progress, it appears, is being made. Malta in 2011, according to figures supplied recently by the government, made great strides in combating the curse of early school leavers, an area in which Malta had consistently ranked lowest among its fellow EU member states. According to those figures, 82 per cent of students last year chose to continue their education past the secondary level, meaning that the country’s early school-leaving rate was just 18 per cent. That figure has shrunk considerably over the years from the 36.8 per cent registered in 2009 and the 54.2 per cent in 2000.

This kind of progress bodes well, but perhaps not well enough for the future of the country’s economy, which is, after all, hinged on the quality of its workforce.

A 2009 report by the National Commission for Higher Education revealed that the country’s workforce must undergo a drastic shift from low to high skilled labour if it is to remain competitive within the EU in the years to come, and literacy is key to achieving that aim.

Seventy-five per cent of the Maltese workforce in 2008 fell under the “low qualification” bracket, while 79 per cent of the European Union workforce, on quite the other hand, was projected to have “medium to high” qualifications by 2015.

There is undoubtedly a quantum leap that must be made in the quality of the country’s workforce, and that leap can only be made when more of the country’s late teens and early 20-somethings remain in the scholastic system for its full duration.

And, as in the case of reading literacy, when it comes to sciences, Malta has a statistically significant gender difference in scientific literacy in the favour of girls. The same holds true for mathematical literacy where, again, a statistically significant gender difference in mathematical literacy favouring Maltese girls over boys exists.

In terms of reading literacy, where the high-level group described the Maltese situation as “of particular concern”, steps, such as this summer’s reading on the beach initiative, have been taken and are welcome. More, however, is needed. The working group puts forward a range of suggestions such as advice for parents on creating a culture of reading for pleasure with their children, creating libraries in unconventional settings such as shopping centres and the need to attract more male teachers to act as role models for boys, who read much less than girls.

They also make age-specific recommendations, calling for free, high-quality early childhood education and care for all, more specialist reading teachers in primary schools, a change of mindset when it comes to dyslexia, and more varied learning opportunities for adults, especially in the workplace.

In Malta, 66 per cent of students, according to EU figures, are proficient in mathematics at least to the baseline level at which they begin to demonstrate the kind of skills that enable them to use mathematics in ways that are considered fundamental for their future development. However, the rating is still below par.

As regards science, two-thirds of students are reportedly proficient in science at least to the baseline level at which they begin to demonstrate the science competencies that will enable them to participate actively in real life situations related to science and technology.

Sparking interest in the sciences among Malta’s youth will go a long way towards incentivising them later in life to higher value added economic sectors, and the concept of setting up an interactive science museum for children is one small step in the right direction.

Other steps to entice youngsters to science are also being taken, such as the Science in the City event being planned for Valletta later this month. More such initiatives are direly required if the country is to steer its youths’ interest towards the sciences.

In a bid to well and truly drive the message home, the high level literacy group has sought to pin a price tag on literacy and in so doing it gauged that if Europe were to achieve its 2020 benchmark of functional literacy of 85 per cent of 15-year-olds, as well as the 85 per cent targets in maths and science, the achievement would lead to a €21 trillion increase in the EU’s gross domestic product over the lifetimes of children born in 2010. That, working on current GDP figures, amounts to a GDP increase of roughly €10.5 billion for Malta alone over the coming decades – a very sobering thought indeed.