Italian children make up largest group of foreign students in schools

Italian children were the largest group of foreign students enrolled in Malta’s kinder, primary and secondary schools, figures released by the National Statistics Office show.

There were 1,123 Italian students in the academic year 2021/2022, making them the largest cohort among the more than 8,000 foreign students attending compulsory schooling and kindergartens.

The figures are a reflection of the growing number of Italians that have migrated to work and live in Malta over the past decade. The 2021 Census found that almost 14,000 Italians live in Malta, the largest foreign nationality at 12%.

In a study title An Overview Of Research On The Recent Migration Of Italians In Malta, published this year, researcher Sandro Caruana describes the large presence of Italians as “the biggest increase of a community of non-Maltese nationals since 2011” when only 947 Italians lived in the country.

The second largest group of foreign students was British with 670 children, followed by Syrian students (604).

The NSO said there were 58,377 students enrolled in the education system up to secondary level during the 2021/2022 academic year, an increase of 330 students over the previous year.

The figures exclude children attending childcare facilities. The data is for State, church and private schools.

Of these, 50,023 (86%) were Maltese, while 8,352 (14%) were foreign, the majority of which were non-EU nationals. Non-EU nationals accounted for 5,010 students, while EU nationals accounted for 3,342 students.

A breakdown of the figures shows that among EU nationals, Bulgarian children made up the second largest group after Italians with 345 students, followed by 233 Romanian students.

Among non-EU nationals, apart from British and Syrian students, Serbian (527), Libyan (499) and Chinese (254) students made up the largest groups.

The NSO data reveals that the number of Maltese students increased by 69 when compared to the previous academic year. The number of students from EU countries increased by 85, while the number of children from non-EU countries increased by 177.

The overall figures show that the majority of students were male (52%), while 46% were aged between 5 and 10 years, followed by the 11-15 age bracket (37%).