Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/929711
maltatoday SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018 Opinion 22 A 2012 study by the University of Manchester on the use of language in Europe makes glum reading. Scientists from this university, together with other European researchers, concluded that 21 out of the 30 languages on which they carried out research, risked becoming weak, or even non-existent, due to the digital revolution. The argument made is that because a number of European languages are used by a proportionally small number of people, these would not generate enough resources to integrate fully within the digital world. "Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian and Maltese are at the highest risk of disappearing, while other languages such as Bulgarian, Greek, Hungarian and Polish are also at risk " the report concludes. Anecdotal analysis lines up with the evidence. Today's modern iPhone or Android phones, and their apps, are entirely in the English language. Maltese translations of this software, or organic applications produced in Maltese, are the absolute minority. This also applies to everyday computers, which by default are in English, and very small numbers are operated through the Maltese language. There are relatively decent translations of popular computer software and websites, such as Google Mail and Facebook, however, the use of the English language in these cases is also prevalent locally. This is a very important element related to the use of languages, because while Maltese literature is doing very well and publications are relatively strong, the everyday use of the language in the digital world is minimal, and there's little hope this will be reversed. I do believe that one of the most important steps we can take in the short-term is to introduce the Maltese language in the mass-produced devices, principally Apple and Android products, to make sure that when someone in Malta types in a Maltese word it is understood, recognised and there is a proposed correction in case of a mistake. However, that is the short-term. In the long-term we must work on strategies to make sure the omnipresent use of digital services around us have the possibility to be introduced in the Maltese language. Machine translation is indeed gaining traction, however, such features are often reliant on user input to strengthen the quality of the translations, similar to what Google Translate does. Google Translate is a positive first step, but it leaves a lot to be desired with translations of full paragraphs not up to scratch. This is not a problem reserved only for our language since it can be seen in various other cases. However, this is a technology which is constantly improving, including through individual user input. If the Maltese language perishes in the digital world, it will create a wider effect on our future generations. The presence of the Maltese language here is of the utmost importance. Not preparing for it, especially with some great technologies around the corner such as Google's Quest Visual, would be a shame. This is not a challenge faced by our language only. Countries such as the Netherlands and others in the Baltic, with considerably larger populations than ours, are also at risk. We must make sure we have the strategy in place to maximise this technology and make sure our language continues to thrive. Absence in the digital world would mean being absent in everyday life. Evarist Bartolo is minister for education While Maltese literature is doing very well and publications are relatively strong, the everyday use of the language in the digital world is minimal, and there's little hope this will be reversed Evarist Bartolo How to save the Maltese language from extinction Uncertain pathway in education U pon the publication of the 2016 PIRLS report, this newspaper raised the alarm bells. It was correct to do so. About the same time, another important report was published by the European Union, the Education and Training Monitor 2017. Take these reports separately or jointly and the results they produce are not exactly results to make us proud. Put these results within the teacher shortage context and the latest collective agreement and I am starting to be convinced that the path for education is leading us nowhere. As spokesperson for education, I have consistently sought to keep education out of partisan controversies. I will continue to do so and will continue to cooperate in the best interest of our teachers and students as I have done this week on the work- based learning and apprenticeship Bill. At this point, I can only fulfil my responsibility by expressing my concern on the results of these two reports and the circumstances in which teachers and students find themselves, in the hope that we can finally start to have an open debate on where our education system is leading us. There doesn't seem to be any plan to address teacher shortage. There are plans to provide supply teachers with access to training to bring them into the ranks appropriately. This is good, the system has been making use of supply teachers without giving our children the possibility of having recognised fully-trained teachers for a while now. The previous administration had undertaken to provide this and it is correct for this administration to continue that undertaking. But while providing teacher training from the Institute for Education may be a stop-gap for those already in the post of supply teachers, there do not seem to be any plans to reach the number of teachers needed for our system to work without having to abuse people willing to become supply teachers. The first indications from the collective agreement over which teachers are up in arms seem to be that it will not entice young people to choose the teaching profession as a career. Teachers are complaining not merely because they feel cheated out of an increase which they were indirectly promised, but they are also complaining of the working conditions surrounding that salary. Most teachers who have spoken to me feel that these conditions will not provide them with the right environment to enable students to attain their best results. Back to PIRLS and the Education and Training Monitor. So PIRLS has shown that at grade 5 our children are either good in Maltese or in English. The Ministry is happy with this, excusing this poor result by indicating that the assessment was carried out in Maltese. This pretty much baffles me. We pride ourselves in living in a bilingual country and the benchmark exam in grade 6 expects our children to score brilliantly in both English and Maltese. Then we come up with the poor excuse that our children were tested in Maltese this time round. The second excuse was that children who are not Maltese-speaking took the test in Maltese. Once again, for most children who come from EU and non-EU States, neither is English their native language. Let's call a spade a spade on this one and say we need to do something for our 10-year-olds to be fluent in both our official languages. Then comes the Education and Training Monitor. This indicates that we have the highest number of early school leavers in Europe with only a marginal decrease taking place between the three years 2013 to 2016 as opposed to the drop in the previous three years. For participation in types of adult learning we have actually scored less than we had scored in 2013. We are 17.5% away from the EU target for the share of students' achievement in science. We are 10% away from the target of 40% for tertiary education attainment. Despite these results one administration after another has been investing heavily in the education system. From all this, I conclude that only a fully inclusive open debate on finding solutions can lead to good results and that debate cannot remove educators from its core. The collective agreement has disaffected a lot of teachers and learning support educators. Unless in this legislature the administration manages to forge a way forward ensuring good standards across the board, we cannot then expect our system to score highly on comparative monitors. But the more time passes, the more students and teachers we lose. Therese Comodini Cachia is shadow minister for education Therese Comodini Cachia