Teaching was my first love. Together with another 15 graduates, I followed the first Post Graduate Course in Education (PGCE). I taught at St Theresa Secondary for a short time. I really understood what teaching was all about when I was assigned the difficult task of teaching an array of ‘academic’ subjects to youngsters who were following the Apprenticeship Scheme in Building Construction.
At the time, I fully apprehended that each student had different needs and utilised my contact hours with them to establish a strong bond that continued throughout my life. With the few skills that we gave them they developed their career and now they head certain sections within their Department. They considered me as their friend and they still do; some of them also became my clients and the bond that was established years ago still flourishes.
The educational part of a person’s life determines his future. When I walk in the Court’s corridors and come in touch with young people accused of breaking the law I feel sorry for their plight and question their achievements in life; not necessarily academically. I query the basic skills that our society has failed to give them. I contrast these unfortunate youths with their peers who are enthusiastically dreaming of a bright future at Tal-Qroqq or any other tertiary institution.
The most unfortunate thing that happened during this electoral campaign was the transformation of the education debate to a scaremongering ploy by the PN propaganda machine. They are telling the voter: beware, Labour wants your children to stay longer at school. What a pity! They are glorifying the negation of education to those who really need it. They think that those parents (and unfortunately there are quite a number) who encourage their children to leave school early to find a job in a shop or in a factory, would vote for them.
The reception class proposed by Labour has been on its agenda for the last year and a half. The Nationalist Party did not care to look at the proposal then. However, on the eve of election they are trying to frighten voters away from Labour on an issue which should not have not been politicised at all. Recently, I was reading a letter sent to another English newspaper calling on the PN not to politicise education and leave it out of its electoral campaign.
The reception class or method is intended to give back to our children their childhood which has been usurped by the myth that our children should become geniuses at a very tender age. It is no wonder that a considerable proportion of pupils hate school and dream of the day when they leave school benches for good.
Over the years no one has addressed the pitiful state of our children who are subjected to unnecessary stress during the Junior Lyceum Exam or during the dreadful rat race for a slot in a Church school.
We have to be honest with ourselves. We have invested in buildings but not in our children. Our educational results are much worse than those of our partners in Europe. This means that we have to make urgent reforms to our educational system. The government is proposing the status quo leading us to nowhere.
Labour is proposing reforms. The reception class would restore childhood to our children who will have more time to spend with their parents. The bondage established in early childhood between parents and children cements the future family relationship. The stress laid on parents and especially mothers, who have to leave their homes early in the morning to cope with the bank loan is already having a toll on quality time with their children. A more relaxed educational system would benefit all the family. A sound preparatory basis at the primary level of education would facilitate students to pass to a smoother stage at the secondary and tertiary levels.
Having followed what is happening in England, France and the Scandinavian countries, I am all in favour of a reception class or programme: call it what you will. The implementation stage of such a reform is of utmost importance. There has to be consultation with head of schools, teachers and parents alike.
The choice is between burying our heads in the sand of a sterile status quo or to vote for change. Apart from the reception class (which unwittingly the PN strategy group has transformed into a scaremongering technique), Labour is proposing the refund of VAT on education spending either through children’s allowance or directly into students’ stipends. Labour’s huge commitment to educational change is a clear indication that at last we have a catalyst for change.
We have stagnated for so many years in many areas. When I go abroad and mix with the ordinary citizen in European countries I notice gap in mentality. Their educational systems are in full gear preparing the younger generation with the relevant skills for tomorrow’s challenges.
We are stuck in converting our children into examination machines while stealing their childhood and youth.
Parents do care for their children’s best welfare. They should embrace change: not for its own sake but for the smooth advancement of their children who would be better prepared to face the burdens and difficulties of life. They should be part of a new era which guarantees fulfilment to the promising ones and brings hope to those lagging behind: I dream of a day when the number of youths facing criminal charges diminishes and those following the career of their dream more than double.
Change and new attitudes in our educational sector can work magic.