The results obtained by Maltese students who sat for their ordinary and advanced level examinations in the core subjects are not at all encouraging.

Statistics that have been uploaded on the University of Malta website show that, at ‘O’ level standard, 44 per cent of students failed in mathematics, 37 per cent failed in Maltese and 37 per cent failed in English.

At ‘A’ level standard, 34 per cent failed in maths, 15 per cent failed in English and seven per cent failed in Maltese.

There are several conclusions that can be drawn from such results. The first is that, from a purely percentage point of view, there are many more failures at ‘O’ level standard than at the higher level, and this can be attributed to the fact that students who choose maths, Maltese and English in post-secondary education really want to continue studying the subject and, by and large, are good at it, as against those at ordinary level where the subjects are compulsory.

The exception, if one were to call it such, is in mathematics, where more than one third of the students failed at ‘A’ level too – and this was a subject they specifically chose because they needed it to pursue their studies. This poor outcome supports suggestions that the difficulty of the two papers presented to the students was enormous, as parents and students were quick to point out immediately after the exams had been taken.

Although, at such a level, one does not expect students to be spoon-fed, there is also a general impression that examiners often tend to draw up exam papers that are aimed at finding out how much students do not know the subject, rather than the other way round. Or, worse, the questions asked are a way for examiners to show how much they know. This is not something that I am saying – this is something that maths teachers who prepare students for exams say. I’ve seen mathematics teachers taking quite a long time to solve problems students are expected to complete in a few minutes.

Some of the problems presented are too complicated to be solved, one after the other, in such a short time. This leads to mental blocks, not to say panic attacks, among many students. Adding more pressure to students in this way – and the pressure of facing an ‘A’ level exam is already a big one for most of them – is not conducive to bringing out the best in them. Students should be tested, not tortured. Many end up giving up their aspirations because of one failure. Losing out on our limited human resources in this way is certainly not something that the country can afford.

This takes me to the second point I would like to make – and this is the poor results obtained in both English and Maltese at ordinary level. That more than one third of our students failed in the languages they use every single day is a bad sign and quite worrying. The correct use of Maltese and English – both written and spoken – plummets to new lows the more time passes, and these results indicate that the trend is not expected to get better in the years to come.

Part of the blame lies with teachers. I am not referring to those who teach the two subjects, the great majority of whom know them well and try their hardest to bring their students in line. But students are then exposed to teachers of other subjects who use Maltese and English in their lessons, and in this case many of these teachers are not knowledgeable enough in the two subjects to use them correctly and point out mistakes their students make.

I have seen notes written by teachers whose use of Maltese and English is horrendous. The only reason why I always resisted the temptation to send a corrected version back was that I knew that my kids would have suffered for my indignation. But it always made my blood boil. How can teachers who cannot write then correct mistakes made by their pupils? It is no wonder that students continue to make the same errors, if these are not pointed out in the first place.

Some have the idea that grammatical and spelling mistakes in subjects that are not Maltese and English should not be corrected and should not have a bearing on the overall result. My reasoning is different because I think that the use of a language to express oneself should be taken into consideration whatever the subject in hand.

I believe that all teachers – and particularly those who are involved with students in their early years – should have a solid background in both languages. Teachers who do not will find it hard to make themselves understood by their students and will be unable to point out their linguistic mistakes. At least the spelling mistakes made by students should be corrected.

The media, as well as the internet, do not help either. I am the first to admit that what is printed in newspapers and news portals is not perfect and that we must try harder to be a better example. What, then, is to be found on other websites – not to mention the way many people write their mobile phone and social network messages – deserves an article all to itself.

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