Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1042376
BUDGET 2019 maltatoday | TUESDAY • 23 OCTOBER 2018 12 Children to lure adults to heritage sites HERITAGE SITES EDUCATION JAMES DEBONO IT may well be the most imaginative measure found in this year's Budget, using the prospect of free entrance to heritage sites for any child and any two accompanying adults as bait for wider cultural appreciation. Presently a couple and a child visit- ing Hagar Qim and Mnajdra or the war museum in St Elmo are expected to pay €25.50. A similar trip to the Inquisitor's Palace in Birgu costs €15. As from next year such an outing would become com- pletely free. Moreover, the measure is devised in a way to lure more adults into the culture trap. Any two children under the age of 16 in a group of visitors will secure free en- trance themselves and four other adults. This will serve as an incentive for families to aggregate together to organise cul- tural trips. Moreover the adults benefit- ting from free entrance to cultural places do not have to be the children's parents. The measure will therefore probably benefit grand parents, relatives and even family friends. This represents a considerable im- provement over a scheme announced by Heritage Malta in 2016 through which Primary school children in possession of a membership card can visit any Heritage Malta (except for the Hypogeum) site for free, while any two adults accompanying paid half price. This is because the meas- ure will now also apply to children at- tending secondary schools and the adults will enter for free. Heritage Malta presently runs 19 dif- ferent sites which have admission fees in Malta and Gozo. This means that fami- lies can now benefit from a free cultural outing once or twice a month. Heritage Malta registered a record 1.3 million visitors to cultural sites in 2017, resulting in another record of €7 million. This reflected a 10 per cent in- crease over 2016 and a 16 per cent in- crease over 2015.This increase reflects the increase in the number of tourists in the past years. MASSIMO COSTA COURSES offered by the University of Malta, MCAST and other higher-education institutions are going to be revised, with a view to making subjects which are necessary for the current economic reality more attractive to students. Through a revision of courses' classification, students will be in- centivised to choose those subjects which lead to jobs which the country needs trained people to occupy, the Budget indicates. As had been announced during the last Budget, after having been halved this year, SEC and MATSEC examination fees will be removed as from next year. In terms of broader investments in the educational sector, the Budget document shows that the government plans to enter into the third phase of "My Journey" programme, whereby students will be given the opportunity to choose programmes which are more relevant to them, and to the economy's needs, based on their personal abilities. There will be a greater push towards encouraging students to follow subjects in the areas of science, technology and mathemat- ics. When it comes to educators, the government said it would con- tinue to work to train them in a way which caters for current reali- ties, and would be opening new teachers' courses in this regard. Supply teachers will have the chance to follow courses developed by the Education Institute, which will enable them to reach the status of regular teachers. University and MCAST courses to be revised, exam fees to be abolished