During academic year 2019-2020, students enrolled in pre-primary, primary and secondary education totalled 58,284, an increase of 1.4% over the previous academic year, the National Statistics Office said.

“The majority of students enrolled in pre-primary, primary and secondary education comprised of male students, at 52%. During academic year 2019-2020, 46.2% of the enrolled students were aged between 5 and 10 years, followed by the 11-15 years age-bracket, at 36.5%. State-run institutions accounted for 58.8% of total enrolments. This was followed by church schools at 27.6%, while students enrolled in independent schools accounted for 13.6% of total enrolments at these levels,” the NSO said.

Total students enrolled in mandatory education during 2019-2020 stood at 48,465. Of these, 55.8% attended primary school, while the remaining 44.2% attended secondary school.

When compared to the academic year 2018-2019, students increased by 0.9% and by 1.7% in primary and secondary schools respectively. The average class size for all schools at the primary level was 18.9 students per class, and 19.2 students per class at the secondary level. Class size was lowest in state schools, while church schools held the highest average class size, particularly at ‘Year 4’ level with 25.1 students per class.

The district hosting the largest number of school levels in 2019-2020 was the Northern Harbour District (33.1%), followed by the Southern Harbour District (19.2%).

In parallel, the majority of students attended schools located in the Northern Harbour District (38.2%), followed by the Southern Harbour District (17.4%).

The Northern Harbour District (27.5%) again topped the list of districts in which pre-primary to secondary students resided, this time followed by the Northern District (18.5%).

“During 2019-2020, students with a foreign nationality accounted for 13.5% of the total students enrolled from pre-primary to secondary education. Foreign students at these levels increased by 12.6% over academic year 2018-2019. The majority of foreign students (58.8%) were Non-EU nationals. The most popular foreign language (excluding the official languages) studied at secondary level was Italian, followed by French, German and Spanish,” the NSO statistics showed.