The Nationalist Party is the party for education. Aware that Malta’s only resources are its people, every Nationalist administration over the years invested heavily in education, from making the university free of charge in the early seventies, to abolishing the notorious numerus clausus as soon as the party was elected in 1987.

Consequently, the university’s population multiplied from 800 to over 10,000 in a few years. It was a Nationalist government that introduced the stipend system for students, opened the MCAST, the ITS and regularly built new schools.

The Education Act of 1988, one of the very first to be enacted by the new Nationalist administration, made it possible for practically anyone to open a school ensuring that each individual's fundamental right of free choice was met. Apart from the setting up of new independent schools, older private schools extended their services, to secondary and post-secondary levels. The real motivation for the reforms enacted by the PN administration certainly was Malta’s application to join the European Union.

A PN government appreciates the value of students and is promising to invest more in the education sector. For the first time ever, education expenditure will be linked to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) guaranteeing that it will therefore be proportional to the country’s economic growth.

Education and students are at the heart of the Nationalist Party’s vision for Malta 2030, with the sole aim of encouraging people from all walks of life to become the most successful versions of themselves. This vision will radically increase Malta’s economic growth, social fabric and international performance. The PN’s proposals for students are exciting and all students should be made aware of these proposals.

If elected, the PN administration will increase the maintenance grant by 25% and students will be receiving €142 more at the beginning of every academic year. Stipends for students active in voluntary organisations will too receive an increase of 25%, which will also apply to students pursuing education degrees. The aim is not only to encourage disadvantaged students to keep pursuing higher education, but such a move will also help students to invest in better learning equipment. 

In a recent survey, 70% of youths expressed their intention to look for a future away from Malta, but the PN in government will do all it can to prevent this loss of human resources. The PN wants youths to travel abroad but only to gain experience and improve their performance and then return with their new capabilities to their native country. The PN is proposing that all youths between the ages of 16 and 21 be given a €500 voucher to travel abroad to broaden their horizons in sports and culture. The new aquired experiences will help them obtain better paid jobs and thus contribute to the Maltese economy.

With the exciting new idea of creating 10 new economic sectors in Malta, the PN government will provide more upmarket job opportunities for youths without harming the environment and lowering the reliance on polluting industries like construction. The scheme will be operated in full co-operation with the University of Malta and the Malta Council for Science and Technology. To complement this, the PN administration will introduce a new strategy for Higher and Further Education that will focus on attracting international talent while nurturing local trained talent to prompt new economic sectors like Metaverse, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. 

Acknowledging that we need to motivate more students to obtain higher qualifications that will help them get better jobs, a new PN government will give tax credits, under the Get Qualified programme, which aims to assist individuals contribute to their personal development to achieve the qualifications and certifications required by the local industry. Students participating in a certification, diploma, degree or post graduate degree courses will receive tax credits, hence helping them recuperate part of the costs sustained. Students in full-time employment will be given the right to study leave during exam periods in order to encourage them to complete their studies.

A new PN administration will invest significantly in Programmes of Apprenticeship Excellence to give further opportunities to students with more technical and vocational inclinations other than academic. Companies that will offer such training opportunities to their employees will receive double their investment in fiscal credits, while the government will pay 35% of the salaries for those apprenticeships.

More incentives include a commitment by the PN government to educational excellence in sports and the arts, investments in internationalisation programmes which will attract Maltese living abroad to work closer to Malta. Included in the PN manifesto, there is also the promise that students (and anyone under the age of 21) earning less than €12,000 per annum will not have to pay social security. This means a saving of 10% of their earnings. To encourage investments, Startups which have a strong component of Research, Technological Development and Innovation will not pay tax on their first €500,000 profit, as long as they reinvest these earnings into the company instead of taking dividends.

A €300 grant that will be allotted to parents of under 18-year-olds should be viewed as a PN investment in sports, performing arts and culture as the PN believes that this will allow more youths to follow their dreams and ambitions, while providing more role-models to our children.

Students need a new beginning, a new plan that will provide a new energy and stimulus to our education system. Students want to see a change because they know that the only way forward is a change.

Youths will, for the first time, have a say on who will govern their country. Their choice will affect their future, and their future is Malta’s future. They can choose to continue being governed by a regime that has brought shame to Malta, putting it on the grey list with countries like Zimbabwe, Syria, Myanmar and Uganda and a regime that has fostered corruption as a way of governance.

On the other hand, they can choose a new style of government, a government that appreciates the value and importance of students and is ready to continue investing in this vital sector. A PN administration where ‘what you know’ and not ‘who you know’ will be the norm, not the exception. A government with a vision.

Be part of the change, vote for Malta. Vote PN.

Dr Joe Giglio a PN Candidate