Education and the economy go hand-in-hand.

Our younger generations rely on us to ensure that the country we leave for them is one they could thrive in, where they receive a quality education, a decent standard of living and a good environment to live in.

One cannot question that Malta's economy is, statistically speaking, thriving, but there are issues with it. There is no shortage of jobs, but the current model means that Malta needs to constantly attract workers from abroad as there aren't enough Maltese to fill those posts.

This raises questions as to the sustainability of such an economic model in such a small country. The population has skyrocketed, and this has resulted in issues such as traffic and intensified construction. This is not to mention the low wages that many third country national workers are being paid - statistics in Parliament had shown that 10,660 of such workers were listed as earning under €10,000 - and this while prices of goods rose quite a bit in recent years. We have also seen stories of poor living conditions for workers, one where even 40 were living in a single flat. Does this sound right? Does it sound like something we should be proud of? No.

We need to change the model, and this was even admitted by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana.

The Nationalist Party has its own idea of the way forward. Ivan J. Bartolo had told this newsroom that the PN has in mind 10 new economic sectors, which would create 32,000 new jobs. Those jobs, if placed at a value of an average salary of €45,000, will provide huge GDP input, he added. Told that this would require Malta attracting even more workers to the country, he said that it is more about reskilling and upskilling the current workforce.

Minister Caruana, meanwhile, was reported as having said in Parliament that Malta's workforce should aim at reaching standards in the Netherlands, where working hours on average are just over 20 a week and at double the Maltese average salary. "Caruana said this was down to the high skills of Dutch workers," MaltaToday reports.

If the country wants to focus on more high-skill sectors, then education is key. But recent statistics cause some worry.

Recent SEC O-Level results show that things could be far better, especially in core subjects. A quarter of students (24.8%) who sat for Maltese and Maths O-levels received an 'unclassified' (U) grade, statistics published by MATSEC about the May session of the exams show. These are worrying statistics and, clearly, something isn't working. Either a large section of students are too distracted or teachers aren't getting through to them. We need to find out what the issues are and solve this situation.

Education Minister Clifton Grima has said that a "thorough consultation" on Malta's education strategy is currently under way. Here, one must point out that different students learn in different ways, and perhaps that is something that could be better looked into and considered. In addition, education is not only about the core subjects. While it would make sense to take into consideration the future economic sectors when constructing scholastic syllabi, the arts, creative thinking and sports, all play a part in our growth as people, and they must also be given importance.