The new secondary school for girls at Tal-Handaq, Qormi, was formally inaugurated this morning by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

A total of €8 million were invested in the construction of the school, which forms part of the St Ignatius College.

The school was built by the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools within the Education Ministry, which is building a new school every year under a programme which is scheduled to continue until at least 2020.

While this is the sixth school to be built under this programme, it is the first secondary school for girls in the lot. The other schools which have been built so far are boys’ secondary schools in Kirkop, Cospicua, Gozo and Mosta and a primary school in Pembroke.

The new school has been built right next to the existing boys’ secondary school in Tal-Handaq, which is also part of St Ignatius College, and the two schools undertake a number of coeducational initiatives. To stress these initiatives, it was up to a student from each school to introduce speakers at the presentation.

Education Minister Dolores Cristina said that she had no doubt that other colleges would follow suit and launch coeducational programmes.

In her speech – one of her last as minister, since she is not seeking re-election – Ms Cristina expressed her satisfaction with the way the transition from primary to secondary schooling had been reformed to do away with streaming, noting that the reform has been taking place smoothly. The first students to be affected by the reform are now in their second year of secondary education.

She also noted that the feedback that had been received since the national curriculum framework was launched a few weeks ago has been entirely positive, adding that the framework would help give schools the necessary flexibility to address their students’ individual needs.

Dr Gonzi, on his part, stressed that the opening of new schools sent a strong message in itself, before adding that a successful educational system went beyond this. Success in education, he said, was measured in schools’ ability to foster students’ desire to learn and advance.

He pointed out that the opening of the Tal-Handaq school fulfilled the government’s promise to build a school every year during this legislature, adding that existing schools have also been embellished in the process.