Even though statistics are improving, Malta, along with Portugal, had the highest proportion of early school leavers in the EU with a total of 37.6 per cent in 2007, according to an EU annual report on education systems in the EU, published yesterday.

The EU target is that there will be no more than 10 per cent of early school leavers by 2010 in each and every member state.

The report, titled Progress Towards The Lisbon Objectives In Education And Training, pointed fingers at Malta (37.6 per cent) and Portugal (36.3 per cent), who in 2007, still had the highest proportion of early school leavers in the EU.

Overall, Malta did not fare very well in the report, often being mentioned as having achieved the lowest percentage in various sectors.

However, on a more positive note, the report noted that the number of early school leavers in Malta is decreasing steadily. Whereas in 2000, there were 54.2 per cent of early school leavers in Malta, this decreased to 37.6 per cent in 2007. In fact, this is a trend that could be seen in almost all countries.

Only in Denmark, Estonia, Austria, Slovakia, France and Spain did the percentage of early school leavers stagnate or increase slightly - a situation the report described as "alarming".

"While the first four of these countries belong to the best performing countries within the EU, the situation in Spain, with one of the highest percentages of early school leavers, is alarming from this point of view," it said.

The report also noted that around 80 per cent of early school leavers in Malta find favourable conditions for employment.

The percentage of the working age population with low educational attainment varies between 16.2 per cent in the Czech Republic to over 70 per cent in Portugal and Malta. In the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the UK, less than 30 per cent of the working age population has low educational attainment.

However, in Malta, along with Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal, over 40 per cent of employees have low education. In 2007 almost 106 million people aged between 15 and 64 in Europe had low levels of formal educational qualifications - approximately 12 million fewer than in 2000.

Less than 20 per cent of the working age population in Malta and Portugal had an intermediate level of education while the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland and Slovakia had more than 60 per cent.

The report described the efforts to increase upper secondary attainment levels of young

people (20-24) as limited. The benchmark by 2010 is to have at least 85 per cent of 22 year-olds in the EU which should have completed upper secondary education.

While figures for 2007 for Malta improved when compared to 2000, it still ranks very low, even compared to the EU average of 78.1 per cent. In 2000, 43.2 per cent of Maltese continued their upper secondary education, which increased to 53.4 per cent in 2007.

While 11 countries currently exceed the benchmark for 2010 of 85 per cent completion. six of these (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, Norway and Croatia) are beyond 90 per cent while Lithuania, Sweden, Cyprus, Ireland and Finland are above 85 per cent. Portugal and Lithuania made significant progress - an increase of 10 percentage points or more, but Spain and Luxembourg did not do so well with the percentages decreasing since 2000.

Source: independent.com.mt