WATCH: Throwing Money At Malta’s Education System Will Not Solve Its Problems, Finance Minister Says
Throwing money at Malta’s education system will not solve its major issues with early school leavers and large numbers of people failing to get beyond secondary school, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana has warned.
“Throwing more money at the problem won’t resolve the issue at all. I think we’re spending more than enough,” Caruana said in an interview with Lovin Malta.
Malta is one of the top 10 spenders on education in the entire EU with the country providing free education up until university to all of its citizens.
Still, figures show that around 35% of the workforce have left school before receiving a secondary school level education, while around 50% do not have six O-levels.
Solving the issues within the education sector remains a headache for the government and there are hopes that a recent employment policy will help address the issues. For Caruana, more money is definitely not the solution and he suggested that more work be done on a micro-level.
“Even on the micro-level, like families, there should be more acknowledgement that education is the key to a successful future,” he said.
However, Caruana did not entertain the idea of launching an inquest into how the money was being spent. Rather, he would like to see attention turn away from punishing those who fail towards placing more time and effort to see what’s happening at a younger age.
“If we lose them young, we don’t have a chance,” Caruana said.
The Finance Minister dismissed a proposal from the PN to increase educators’ salaries by 25%, rejecting suggestions that paying teachers more would magically result in better teachers.
“You can increase it by 50%, I’m not sure it will resolve the issue,” he added.
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