This budget will continue to build on previous budgets and further strengthen investment in Education and Employment, Education infrastructure as well as our children’s future. The budget for 2021 will go down in history as the largest budget ever allocated to the education and employment sector. In total the budget for the year 2021 gives a total increase of €65 million without taking into account European funds.

A far cry from unfounded criticism that we are not investing in our children’s future. The facts show that indeed we are, and starting by investing in one of the most important factors of their lives – their education. This budget caters for a key priority - infrastructure projects in the education sector.

However this government does not wait for the official yearly budget announcement to invest. In fact apart from the investments mentioned in this year’s budget speech, another €26 million have also been allocated for the reopening of schools, so far, in accordance with the protocols for the protection of children, educators and workers’ health. The total investment the government has allocated so that our schools could be opened and according to the protocols issued by the competent authorities so far amounts to a total of €25,984,560. For next year, another €11,962,000 is expected to be spent on recurring costs in view of the same protocols.

This is clear statement of the government's commitment to the further advancement of our children’s and students’ education and of how seriously the government has taken the health and safety of children, educators and school workers.

These amounts include additional expenditure on the cleaning service, the security service, the supervision service on the arrival and departure of the children, the provision of cleaning materials; washing, hygiene, sanitation and disinfection, payments related to risk assessments, payments related to pre-recorded lessons, additional child-minding services at two new centres and new costs related to breakfast for children among others.

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Investment in education infrastructure is always on the cards. This year we have already shown a strong commitment that we are taking the modernisation of our schools to the next level. A number of infrastructural projects have already been carried out. The opening of the new Qawra Primary School with an investment of €13 million; the construction of a footpath at Hamrun’s Secondary School (Lyceum) with an investment of €0.5 million, and the works carried out on the Middle and Secondary School of Żejtun with an investment of around another €5 million. Before the end of this year, the restoration work of the School of Arts in Valletta will be completed with another investment of €5 million.

2021 will be characterized by more infrastructural work in this sector. Mid-October we started works on the construction of a new primary school in Msida with an investment of €14 million. We demolished the old school, and started the construction of a new modern school on the same site.

With about 40 classes – 26 normal classes and a number of other classes for specific subjects such as personal and social development, arts, music, science, literacy, and ethics, the school will also have a childcare centre, a public library and a hall that will accommodate about 300 people.

This will be a modern and futuristic educational facility specifically designed to provide the best education for our children.

In the coming days the first stone will be laid in Gozo, starting the construction of another new school - the New Primary School of Victoria, Gozo with an investment of €10 million. This school will replace the existing school which is over 160 years old.

Two other projects that will be given a boost in 2021 are those of the extension and major works on the Primary School of San Ġorġ in Ħal Qormi and of the Secondary School in Santa Luċija. These two projects will be carried out with a total investment of around another €15 million.

At the same time, the Ministry will be carrying out modernization works in the various state schools in Malta and Gozo, in particular, during 2021, a larger-scale modernization will be starting at the Primary School in Rabat, Malta with an investment of €2.3 million, at Nadur Primary School with an investment of €1 million and at Għaxaq Primary School with another investment of €1 million. A total of almost a thousand students are expected to benefit from these three schools.

Work will also begin on an extension of the Naxxar Primary School with an investment of another €2 million.

In the tertiary sector there are important projects that will be given a boost over the next year.

At the University of Malta we will be investing in a new sports complex, which will include, among others, facilities for the performing arts; indoor track for athlete training; a full size football stadium and an Olympic track. He said there will also be a new building for the Institute of Physical Education and the School of Performing Arts and a two-storey car park.

Apart from this, there will also be the completion of two major infrastructure projects being carried out with European Union funds - one linked to a new Centre for Mathematics and Physics and the other linked to a new centre for the post-doctoral field with a total investment of €25 million.

At MCAST we will continue with the improvement and construction of more facilities within the Paola campus. During 2021 we will see the completion of the new Centre for Resources and the new Building of Information Technology with a total investment of €23 million from European funds. There will also be an investment in recreational facilities to improve the mental and physical health of the community, MCAST students, and staff.

When it comes to investing in our children, in future generations, we are committed to do whatever is necessary to ensure that our students get their education and educators teach in the best possible environment.