During academic year 2020-2021, students enrolled in pre-primary, primary and secondary education totalled 58,047, a decrease of 0.4 per cent over the previous academic year, the NSO said.

Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Formal Education: 2020-2021

Just over half of the students enrolled in pre-primary, primary and secondary education were male at 52.0 per cent. During academic year 2020-2021, 46.2 per cent of the enrolled students were aged between five and 10 years, followed by the 11-15 years age-bracket, at 37.2 per cent. State-run institutions accounted for 58.8 per cent of total enrolments. This was followed by church schools at 27.6 per cent, while students enrolled in independent schools accounted for 13.6 per cent of total enrolments.

Total students enrolled in mandatory education during 2020-2021 stood at 48,731. Of these, 55.3 per cent attended primary school, while the remaining 44.7 per cent attended secondary school. When compared to academic year 2019-2020, students decreased by 0.3 per cent and increased by 1.7 per cent in primary and secondary schools respectively.

The average class size for all schools at the primary level was 17.7 students per class, and 18.7 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 5’ level with 24.0 students per class.

The district offering the largest number of educational levels in 2020-2021 was the Northern Harbour District (32.9 per cent), followed by the Southern Harbour District (18.9 per cent). In parallel, the majority of students attended schools located in the Northern Harbour District (37.5 per cent), followed by the Southern Harbour District (17.1 per cent).

The Northern Harbour District (27.2 per cent) again topped the list of districts in which pre-primary to secondary students resided, this time followed by the Northern District (18.8 per cent) (Table 6). During 2020-2021, students with a foreign nationality accounted for 13.9 per cent of the total students enrolled from pre-primary to secondary education.

Foreign students at these levels increased by 2.8 per cent over academic year 2019-2020. The majority of foreign students (59.7 per cent) were Non-EU nationals. The most popular foreign language (excluding the official languages) studied at secondary level was Italian, followed by French, Spanish and German.