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James Debono
As factories relying on unskilled labour close down because the global economy has plenty of cheaper alternatives for Maltese unskilled workers, in the six months between September 2005 and April 2006, 30 students under the age of 16 were allowed to leave school.
While in Malta exemptions are still given to under-16s, the European Union considers young people who stop school at sixteen as ‘early school leavers’. These under-16s end up leaving school without any certification of the skills they should have acquired at school.
Replying to a parliamentary question, Education Minister Louis Galea said that the main reason for granting such exemptions was to allow these students to seek employment.
In fact a spokesperson for the Ministry told MaltaToday that students seeking exemption have to present a “promise of work” form signed by prospective employers.
Early school leavers are mostly promised work in the tourism, food handling, construction, retailing, and in the cleaning and refuse collection business.
The school social work service is not informed whether these students were subsequently granted a work permit. Those who are granted an exemption on the basis of a promise of work form have to go to the Department of Social Security to be given the so-called N.I.3 Card which permits under-16s to work.
Most of the requests made by parents to exempt their children from school were accepted.
In total 38 requests for exemptions were received by the School Social Work Section from parents of students, who had not completed the secondary school course. Only five requests were not accepted.
The Education Division only grants exemptions from schooling according to a set of established criteria.
Anyone who is over 16 years of age is automatically exempted even if he has not completed his secondary education.
Anyone aged between 15 and 16 years old, between January and June and has finished their mid-year exams can apply for an exemption. Even 15-year-old students in Form 4, or below, are allowed to leave school if they have a promise of work before their sixteenth birthday but these cannot leave without completing the last term.
Students under fifteen are not exempted. The only exception are girls who become pregnant. In these cases, the girls are given a temporary transfer to Unit Ghozza, the former Schoolgirl Mothers’ Unit where they have to attend regularly.
Technically it is the Minister responsible for Education, Youth and Employment Louis Galea who is responsible for granting or refusing requests for exemptions from schooling.
However, a spokesperson for the Ministry informed MaltaToday that the minister can delegate this job to the director general, who in turn can delegate it to the next in line.
“In this case, the Hon Minister had delegated this responsibility to the then-director general of Education, Mr Charles Mizzi who in turn had delegated the duty to the assistant director for Student Services in 1999,” a spokesperson for the ministry said.
The 30 early school leavers are only the tip of the iceberg. Around 18.6 per cent of unemployed young people interviewed in a study by the Employment and Training Corporation claimed that they had not completed their secondary education. These young people had not applied formally for a permit but were just absent from school by presenting a medical certificate. Early school leavers are at a greater risk of unemployment according to the ETC study.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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