Malta Students Leave School Earlier than EU Counterparts

 

 

 

When it comes to education, Maltese students are leaving school earlier than other students in the EU according to the Eurostat Yearbook, which was published late last week. The Yearbook is full of different types of education statistics and shows that Maltese students are more likely than others in Europe to be considered “early school leavers”. The definition of an early school leaver are those who are between the ages of 18 and 24 who have only completed a minimum of lower secondary education and who have not had schooling in the past month. The European 2020 strategy has said that they would like each country to have a percentage of “early school leavers” to be less than 10% by the year 2020.

When looking at the current stats from other EU27 nations, the average was 14%. The countries with the lowest percentage, all at 5% include the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Slovenia. Malta is currently sitting at 37%, the highest. After Malta, the highest are Portugal at 29% and Spain at 28%. Throughout the EU, about 12% of women and 16% of men are considered early school leavers. All member states have a higher number of men than women considered early school leavers with the exception of Slovakia and Bulgaria.

About 79% of the EU27 population between 20 and 24 years old have gotten at least some type of upper secondary education. Malta was the lowest, with only 53% of 20 to 24 year olds getting upper secondary education. However, when compared to the likes of Poland, who is at 91%, the Czech Republic at 92% and 93% in Slovakia, the 53% is certainly not something that Malta is proud of. This is something that the entire country should take to heart and begin putting more focus on education.

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