Early school leaver statistics revised downwards

Early school leaver statistics have been revised downwards by an average of 10% following a change in the NSO's methodology.

12 February 2013, 12:00am
by Jacob Borg

1 min read

Outgoing education minister Dolores Cristina has announced that statistics on early school leavers have been artificially inflated due to the use of an outdated methodology. Calculations done using the new methodology have seen early school leaver rates decrease by an average of 10%.

For the period between January-December 2011 early school leaver rates were at 33.4% using the old system and 23.6% using the new system.

Under the previous system, persons between 18 and 24 were classified as being early school leavers if they were no longer in education or training, irrespective of any qualification obtained through secondary education. The new system excludes all persons who have obtained five 'O' levels as being classified as early school leavers.

Giving a run through of the PN's achievements on education over the past legislature, Cristina said that more focus has been put on bolstering teaching staff for persons with special needs.

The PN's deputy leader Simon Busuttil said that his party is committed to achieving "another leap in quality" in keeping with the theme of the electoral programme.

"Tablets will be given to students, teachers and LSA's. Church, government and independent schools will all be included in the programme. The tablet is not merely a gadget but a tool full of educational material", Busuttil said.

Stipends will include a pro-rata cost of living adjustment and students will gain national insurance contributions for their future pensions. Busuttil also committed to offering 3,000 scholarships for students wishing to further their studies abroad.

Furthermore, the PN will be offering at grant to students wishing to undertake a course in a European country.

"At the age of 21 students will be allowed a grant of €500 in order to travel to Europe and broaden their cultural horizons. Those following a language course will be offered a grant of €1,000," Busuttil said.

More from Jacob Borg

Anette B Cassar •

Jigifieri l-NSO ihaddem nies inkompitenti?

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There are black lies, white lies and satistics. This is a cliche but nowhere could it be more pertinent than in our present situation. They are doctoring numbers and they are admitting it!

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Thanks to Dolores Christina's close family member our youth lost the opportunity for funds. Well, she did not resign. Now she states that there was an incorrectness in the statistics. I think a minister for education and will come up with such statement should resign.

Igor P. Shuvalov •

Changing of goalposts by NSO, on the eve of an election, would only effect local statistics but not Euro-barometer or EU survey statistics. After all as George Canning says one can prove anything by statistics except the truth.

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EH?! That is a really, right proper "legislature leaving" certificate for the NSO and it's statistics (?). Prosit Duluri!

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My goodness - we need an election campaign to find out (sic)that the National Statistics Office has been using outdated terminology. The next thing they will tell us is that the jobless figure is zero and that our National debt is also down. As if any, but the most stupid diehards, would believe that the statistics were genuine anyway. We have long believed that Malta's books have been cooked and now they want us to believe that even this lower level of cooking figures were wrongly manipulated. Tell that to the marines.!!

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Tidwir bil figuri. Dawn jafu jisthu jew?

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.... kos, anki l-figuri u anki l-istatistika ghandhom xortihom ..... il-figuri koroh miss malta cristina tara kif taghmel biex tnaqqashom u tbaxxihom ....u l-figuri koroh tad-dejn nazzjonali mr arsenal jara kif jaghmel biex jghollihom dejjem 'il fuq u 'l fuq u 'l fuq ..... sakemm fl-ahhar sejrin jisplodu f'wiccu waqt li jkun qed ikahhal il-kamra tas-sodda fil-villa f'hal balzan ......

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Considering the fact that the head of the NSO is an ex-PN local councillor, why am I not surprised that the "methodologies" are being refined in the PN's favour on the eve of the election? The new classification makes no sense because the issue under study is whether the youngsters are still undergoing further education or not. If they have obtained their 5-O-levels early and are now working, this still means that they are EARLY SCHOOL LEAVERS because they are no longer at school or in further training when they are 16-24.

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Even more manipulation of official figures. The PN gets very high marks for its creativity in manipulating statistical information to bolster their election campaign. Almost as good as Tonio Fenech's creative accounting techniques which manage to throw a dense cloud of smoke on Malta's financial woes.