Education key to country’s success – Gonzi

With the electoral campaign now entering its sixth week, the Nationalist Party chose to focus on education after previously highlighting health and job creation.

"Education is the key to individual achievement and for the country's economic growth," PN leader Lawrence Gonzi said

Addressing a press conference at the PN headquarters this morning, Gonzi said that if education is on a sound footing, "the whole country wins."

Underpinning the PN's commitment to create a knowledge society, Gonzi said that one of the reasons for Malta's success in weathering the economic storm was education.

"We overcame the international crisis despite being an island with its own peculiarities and we managed to do so by creating jobs," Gonzi said, adding that Malta's competitiveness and success in attracting investment was down to the educational system.

Gonzi noted that in countries such as Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus, youth unemployment had reached unprecedented levels, experienced a reduction in social benefits, pensions, educational budgets and wages were either frozen or reduced.

"This did not happen in Malta because of our massive investment in education," Gonzi said citing the investment at all educational levels from primary schools to university and Mcast.

Gonzi added that the €1.1 billion EU financial package along with national funds, would ensure that education investment is maintained and strengthened.

He said a new PN government would open a new school every year up to 2020, the Handaq school in 2013; the Kirkop secondary in 2014; the boys' secondary school in Rahal Gdid in 2015; a girls' secondary in Hamrun in 2016; boys secondary in Hamrun in 2017; a boys' secondary in Pembroke in 2018, a primary school in Marsaskala in 2019 Mscala and a boys' secondary in Hamrun in 2020.

"We are determined to keep up this capital expenditure to keep education levels high in our country. We will also proceed with the €120 million project for a new Mcast campus," Gonzi said.

He added that a new PN government would also continue expanding the Institute for Tourism Studies and University campuses and extend the Gozitan Sixth Form.

The PN leader also underlined the party's proposal to adjust stipends according to the COLA mechanism and the extension of child care centre facilities and NI benefits to parents who further their studies.

"We will keep giving our support to private and church schools. We make no distinction between children. They can go to different schools but there cannot have more advantages over others and we will keep helping private schools by giving tax benefits to their parents, through a reduction of taxes when paying private school fees."

Gonzi said that in addition the government would increase the independent school created fund last year by €2 million every year, enabling schools to tap into these capital expenditure funds for their investment in teaching aids for their children.