The SEC revision classes organised by the government are a good way to help students continue on in their education and succeed.

Ylenia Vella, a senior executive and Unit manager within Jobsplus, told The Malta Independent on Sunday that the classes have helped over 5,000 students since their inception. She replied that there are detailed statistics linking the revision classes to resit outcomes which indicate that 60% of the participants improved their grades in the resits.

This is, of course, good news, and one hopes that those handling the organisation of the classes manage to improve that percentage more and more, in addition to possibly offering such classes for even more subjects than are currently offered. Currently, Vella said that, for now, the focus remains on the core subjects, but perhaps in the future an expansion could be considered.

Vella also noted that 89% of the applicants continued to further their education in post-secondary settings. The job market is extremely competitive and so getting as far as one can in education will be of benefit to students in the years to come.

While some students do well in exam conditions, others do not, and might perhaps do better in other forms of assessment. Some students might have been going through a difficult period and their minds were not on studying as a result, others might just be struggling with grasping a certain subject. Regardless of the reason, the SEC revision classes offer students the opportunity to receive support and try again.

But one also has to take note of the worryingly high number of students not receiving at least a 5 in core subjects. Out of 4,622 candidates who registered for the Mathematics exam in 2024, 2,395 received a grade of 5 or higher. But that is a large number of students who did not achieve those grades.

For the Maltese exams, there were 3,968 candidates registered, 2,543 of which achieved a grade of 5 or higher. 4,519 candidates registered for the English Language exam, with 3,192 achieving a 5 grade or higher.

The rate of students not achieving a grade 5 or higher is far too high. This merits a serious look at our education system.

Why is it that students are struggling too much? Is it an issue with teaching the syllabus? Is it a motivation issue? Do teaching techniques need to change? Are there outside factors? What can be done to ensure that more students pass on the first try? These are all questions that need to be delved into. Of course every individual is different, but if more can be done to help students succeed and move further in their studies, then trying to find out what is going wrong would be the first step, and where solutions can be found, they should be implemented.