Last summer the first free SEC Revision Classes took place and the results were very positive. Best of all in Mathematics were 1,175 applied to sit for the September resit and 59.4% managed to get a 5 or better. This is considerably higher than the 19% rate of a year before when revision classes did not take place.

Youths who could have dropped out of education managed to get the necessary grades to continue in their studies through the EU-funded Youth Guarantee initiative.

Students who were either absent for the May session or whose grades in Maltese, Mathematics, English and Physics were below Grade 5 were entitled to these classes.

The Free Sec Revision Classes initiative is part of the Youth Guarantee and aims to provide free classes during summer with an intensive academic programme over a five week period in preparation for the September resit session. The aim was to help students improve their grades, facilitating their entry into post-secondary institutions and reducing the risk of early school leaving.

Minister Evarist Bartolo said that the classes have proved to be a resounding success and that students are motivated to achieve the grades they need despite the intensity of the programmes. The Education Minister noted that the attendance rate this year has improved, with over 70% of the students regularly attending the classes.

Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg spoke about the benefits of the Youth Guarantee and noted that such revision classes were indeed contributing to this success. He said that the Youth Guarantee was proving all its doubters wrong and the results being witnessed today were proof of that. Dr Borg explained that through such an initiative, youths were being given another chance to succeed and to escape unemployment issues. He wished well to all participating students and said he was now fully committed to absorb the full €3M allocated for such an initiative and to even launch further similar schemes under the ESF being planned for the 2014-20 period.

Revision classes in numbers:

A total of 1,085 students have applied for this year’s revision classes which have started on July 27th. These students are attending a total of 1,996 classes, since a considerable number of students applied for more than one subject.

1,012 students are attending the classes in two locations in Malta (Blata l-Bajda and Paola) while a further 73 are attending the classes in Rabat, Gozo. 

The breakdown by subject is as follows:

Maltese - 434

English - 553

Mathematics - 694

Physics - 315