MPs reticent on why they chose private education for their children

Politicians from both sides of the divide laud their respective parties’ achievements in improving the quality of public education, but there is perhaps no better litmus test to assess the true attitude of the political class towards state schools than to check whether they are willing to actually send their children to one of them.

Tax returns obtained by MaltaToday show that 11 MPs – including the Prime Minister – claimed tax rebates for sending their children to private schools in 2014. Yet, most were reluctant to explain why they chose to send their children there and whether it reflects dissatisfaction with the quality of state schools in the country.

“The decision on our children’s education, taken more than seven years ago, was purely a private matter and a family decision as much as it is for every family in Malta,” Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, a father of twins, told this newspaper. “It cannot be read otherwise.”

Yet national statistics show that 69% of primary and secondary-level children were enrolled at state schools during the 2013/14 scholastic year – a figure that does not include the children of the Prime Minister, nor of PL deputy leader Chris Cardona or the two PN deputy leaders, Beppe Fenech Adami and Mario de Marco.

In earlier years, the children of both education minister Evarist Bartolo and the PN’s education spokesperson, George Pullicino, were enrolled in church schools. The children of Opposition leader Simon Busuttil had attended a European School in Brussels, where their father used to work as an MEP between 2004 and 2013.

It is practically impossible to quantitatively compare and contrast the results of different schools on the island; the education ministry recently refused MaltaToday’s request for data showing how the students of individual schools fare in their ‘O’ Level exam, on the ground that the data would lead to school league tables that risks stigmatizing and labelling teachers and students from low-performing schools.

This effectively means that parents’ choices to send their children to independent or Church schools instead of to state schools is ultimately based on perception.

Yet MPs who spoke to MaltaToday were all cautious not to criticise the public education system when asked why they had chosen a private education for their children.

PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said that the choice of his children’s school should remain a private family matter, but insisted that he has “great respect for the public educational sector and the professionals who operate therein”.

Fellow PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said that his and his wife’s choice to send their children to a private school was not based on malaise towards public education.

“My wife and I considered different options and different schools before deciding on the school we sent our children to,” he said. “Our choice was not based on whether other options or schools were worse or better but on the holistic education, ethos and environment provided. The school we chose was the school we felt could provide our children with the formal kind of holistic education and environment we wanted our children to have.”

While Labour MP Silvio Parnis appears as having claimed €900 in tax rebates for two consecutive years on private education, he said his choice did not reflect that he and his wife had anything against government schools.

Possibly the most forthright response came from Labour MP Etienne Grech, who said that he had chosen to send his children to San Anton after hearing positive feedback from his peers who had also sent their children there.

“After doing my research, my wife and I decided to bear the financial sacrifices and send our kids to this school,” he said. “Our children were and are still happy about this decision and they were periodically asked by us how happy they are at school, and the answer was always positive.”

However, he insisted that the choice did not reflect distrust with public schools, recounting how a child had once asked for his opinion on whether he prefers government or church schools and how he had chosen the former.

He added that his two older boys have now moved to government post-secondary education after graduating from secondary school.

The tax returns also show that PL deputy leader and economy minister Chris Cardona, competitiveness minister Manuel Mallia, parliamentary secretary for local councils Stefan Buontempo, Opposition MPs Marthese Portelli and Claudio Grech, and Labour MP Luciano Busuttil send their children to private schools.

In a joint reply from the PN, the party’s spokesperson said that the MPs’ decision to send their children to private schools was a purely personal matter. “The PN was, and still is, in favour of pluralism in education.”

MP                                               2014 rebates  2013 rebates

De Marco, Mario                         -€ 3,200           -€ 3,900

Fenech Adami, Beppe                -€ 4,600           -€ 3,200

Grech, Claudio                            -€ 2,900           -€ 6,900

Grech, Etienne                            -€ 3,900           -€ 2,900

Mallia, Emmanuel                       -€ 3,607           -€ 6,200

Muscat, Joseph                          -€ 3,200           -€ 3,122

Parnis, Silvio                              -€ 900              -€ 3,200

Portelli, Marthese                       -€ 1,600           -€ 900

Puli, Clyde                                  -€ 700              -€ 1,600