[WATCH] Education minister: Country needs to address skills deficit

Education Minister launches national skills council•video by James Bianchi

Education and employment minister Evarist Bartolo said that the country needs to address the present skills deficit it has in order to address the needs of a growing and changing economy.

Bartolo was speaking at the launch of the National Skills Council this afternoon where he said that the council will be made up of different individuals coming from industry, the education sector as well as civil society.

The council will be operating under the direction of Prof Joseph Cilia, together with Dr Alex Grech as deputy chairperson.  

Photo by James Bianchi

“We need to rethink the way we look at what skills are present within the workforce and we also need to be able to predict which skills are going to be required in the future,” said Bartolo.

He said that council will be tasked with understanding what skills need to be developed and to also determine the way in which this is going to happen.

The minister said that the council has been directed to recommend policy direction based on evidence collected from Malta. It will also be expected to act as a broker between employers and education providers and to stimulate structural and administrative changes which can assist in redirecting resources and skills into emerging industry sectors.

“Over the years, the country has managed to move forward because our workforce has always managed to reinvent itself and we will need to do the same going forward,” said Bartolo.