The total teaching and non-teaching staff working in formal education during the 2019-20 academic year amounted to 18,214 – an increase of 4.5% when compared to the previous academic year, data published by the National Statistics Office showed.

The statistics shows that classroom teachers and academic staff in pre-primary to tertiary education institutions during academic year 2019-2020 increased by 3.8 per cent over the preceding academic year, totaling 9,670.

The largest share was composed of teachers at the upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary levels (26.7 per cent), followed by primary teachers (22.2 per cent). The majority of teaching personnel were females, at 66.1 per cent.

Full-time teachers accounted for 84.4 per cent of total classroom teachers and academics.

Total tertiary level male academic staff stood at 1,320 or 63.3 per cent.

During the academic year under review, 15.9 per cent of all teaching staff were aged between 30 and 34 years, followed by the 40 to 44 years age-bracket, at 15.8 per cent.

The proportion of teaching staff in state-run institutions corresponded to 75.0 per cent of the total teaching staff. This was followed by church schools at 15.6 per cent, and 9.3 per cent in private schools.

The overall pupil-teacher ratio stood at 9 pupils per teacher during academic year 2019-2020. The highest ratio was recorded in private schools, at 12.4 pupils per teacher, in line with the previous academic year, whereas the lowest ratio was in state schools at 8.1 pupils per teacher.

During academic year 2019-2020, non-teaching staff in education amounted to 8,544, an increase of 5.2 per cent when compared to the previous academic year. Females represented 72.9 per cent of the total non-teaching staff. Almost half of the total non-teaching personnel were ‘Teacher Aides’, totalling 4,209, or 49.3 per cent.

The majority of teacher aides were aged between 30 and 39 years, at 37.3 per cent. School level management and higher-level management personnel stood at 1,157, registering an increase of 8.4 per cent when compared to academic year 2018-2019.