Last week news broke that there was a high SEC failure rate in core subjects – Maths, English and Maltese.

Figures show that this year, 17% of students who sat for Maltese, 18% who sat for Maths and 14% who sat for an English language exam only managed to obtain a ‘U’ grade.

Now of course there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the disruption of the pandemic played a part in this situation. Indeed this could merit a study on this particular situation. One must remember that psychologically, students could have been impacted in many ways as a result of it.

But when comparing 2019 and those results to 2021, figures show that results were also very similar. 19% of students who sat for their Maltese exam, 17% who sat for Maths and 12% who sat for English obtained a ‘U’ grade.

This reveals a worrying situation for Malta’s educational system.

These core subjects are very important for advancing into tertiary education and also play important roles in our everyday lives.

Clearly something has to change as the way students are being taught is just not working.

Perhaps extra attention should be given to students who are falling behind on these subjects, or perhaps schools need to take a long hard look at the curriculum to see which parts students are struggling with and find better ways to teach those parts. The ease of access to technology is both a tool for success and also a distraction. Tablets are excellent tools to help children learn, but can also distract children from learning. We are still navigating through these waters.

These children are the future of our country, and there is absolutely nothing more important than their education.

It could perhaps be that students find these subjects boring and thus do not pay as much attention as they should, in which case new ways should be found to make them entertaining, thus it would be easier to keep their attention.

English is critical for Malta given its focus on tourism and its connections within the EU. Maltese is our mother tongue, and if we do not honour that language, it could risk being lost. Indeed many controversial changes to the Maltese language have been seen over the years already. Maths is important for all reasons, including any business one might have, or calculating energy tariffs and taxes, among many other things.

Let’s also not forget that Malta has a high rate of early school leavers, a problem that the country has been trying to tackle for many years. The government has recognised this as a problem and has been working to try and tackle it.

In a world where jobs are becoming more and more complex, the importance of remaining in education and succeeding has never been as critical as it is now. We must collectively find a way to help the younger generations advance and succeed.