Statistics about education attainment for Malta in past years continue to paint the picture of a country with an education gap between the older and younger generations. With so many more young students opting to continue their education to upper secondary and higher education level in recent years, this gap is finally beginning to show encouraging signs that it is finally narrowing substantially.

If figures for females alone are considered, the education gap with the overall EU average becomes even narrower as over 79% of Maltese females attain an upper secondary or tertiary education compared with 83% for the EU.  Assuming that this growth rate for Malta is sustained, it is clear that Maltese females will be the first to bridge this gap very soon, and will eventually surpass it.

The fact that the female participation in the job market is still markedly low in absolute figures, indeed among the lowest in the EU, speaks volumes about what a vital knowledge pool females represent to the Maltese economy, and the enormous room for positive growth if more females were to reach the job market. It is the Government’s intention to strengthen female engagement in our economy, allowing for more economic growth and country competiveness. 

This government believes that ICT has a central role that can drive many sectors of the economy through the innovation it can bring to processes, products, services and quality of life improvements. We now no longer talk about ICT on its own merit as giving a firm a competitive advantage. ICT is a commodity which is now taken for granted just like any other utility such as water and electricity to our homes. But unlike other commodities, it is in the way that ICT can be used intelligently and creatively to create solutions to resolve real problems and increase productivity and efficiency, that enterprises can gain a competitive advantage in their markets.

Evidence to date has shown that females could appear to be more drawn to the social and people dimension, but feel less drawn to the scientific and technological dimension, which is generally considered to interest males more. In reality, research has shown there are no cognitive differences between the genders. It is the experience which females and males are exposed to during their upbringing which gives them the skills to be more prepared for either one or the other dimension – social or scientific.

And it is sometimes parents and teachers’ expectations with respect to the behaviour of females and males which can condition them to develop a predisposition, interest and a sense of creativity towards one dimension at the expense of the other. This is therefore very important to take into account in our policies on stimulating more young students to take up ICT.

This government believes that ICT, through its pervasiveness and its ability to bridge the social and science and technology aspects can act as a platform to attract female students towards scientific subjects.  In effect ICT is one of the main tools in areas of Science, Technology, Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics.  ICT and its enabling effect on other scientific disciplines and sectors is most certainly the answer which as a Government and together with other ICT stakeholders including entrepreneurs, educators, researchers and students, must collectively strive to achieve together.

For an industry which contributes an average of 5% to national GDP, one of the highest in the EU, and excluding other closely related sectors such as online gaming this acts as a good as this “ICT gender gap” it is our duty to continue encouraging youths to enter these fields and continue specialising in their ICT studies.

We therefore need to apart from finding ways to make ICT more attractive to our young students but especially our young female students find methods to encourage our ICT students to continue studying at higher levels including at Master and Doctoral level.  We have to appreciate that for our companies to create innovative products latest   and specials skills are needed.  The strengthening of local ICT skills will be encouraged by this Government for students to take both academic and technical courses, allowing us to increase our competitiveness and expertise in ICT Technologies and disciplines. The strengthening of our local ICT skills to be achieved with the help of public and private educational institutions, it is our intention that the delivered skills by these institutions complement those needed by our industry. 

These together with other points were also brought up in a meeting which I had with the ICT Business Sector of the Malta Chamber of Commerce.   

An initiative which I participated in last Friday was the Microsoft ICT Career Day, this positive initiative groups a number of companies such as Microsoft Malta and its partners to provide a positive learning environment for students. 

This by providing the right resources, software, infrastructure, support and the advice which our young enterprising students can find to become more successful in their exciting voyage into entrepreneurial discovery and ICT specialisation which this government pledges to support.

I am particularly keen about Microsoft’s initiatives on cloud computing which is known to reduce the upfront costs to SMEs by reducing the operational complexities of IT usually needed to grow a business. Through its collaborative model, Microsoft enables local businesses to reap the full benefits that the right technology can offer, in synch with the speed at which they grow. In doing so, it also helps them to innovate and therefore become more competitive and successful.

 And as we know, success, in the end, means more fulfilling and stimulating job opportunities for our young students, both male and female.

The current Strategic Partnership between Government and Microsoft signed in 2012 is an additional foundation stone to build on and continue to nurture our students’ ICT capabilities. This is needed to facilitate their entry into the highly digitised job market by upgrading their educational baggage to the level of digital literacy required by the career of their choice using a widely acclaimed and recognised certification such as Microsoft.

If we wish to achieve a universally digitised society, this aspect is important not only for students choosing to pursue a career in ICT, but also for those students pursuing any other career which, we know, without skill and proficiency in ICT, cannot become effectively innovative and competitive.  It is the new Government’s aim to support positive initiatives by companies to strengthen local ICT Skills. 

The Hon Dr Edward Zammit Lewis is Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth