Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1216530
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 MARCH 2020 NEWS Clean your hands often by washing with soap and water or using alcohol hand rub. Do this regularly as well as after you use a tissue for a cough, sneeze or sniffle. Contain germs by staying at home; do not go to work or school until you are better. Never visit patients in hospital if you are sick. Use a tissue to cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. Never cough or sneeze into bare hands. If you do not have a tissue, use your elbow. The Health Authorities are advising people to avoid non-essential travel to the listed affected areas*. People returning from these areas are being asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. Stop the spread ADVICE FOR TRAVELLERS COVER CONTAIN CLEAN *Northern Italy (Lombardy, Piemonte, Veneto and Emilia Romagna), China (including Hong Kong), Singapore, Japan, Iran, South Korea. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Coronavirus - Stop the Spread Advert Eng - 2020.pdf 1 28/02/2020 12:36:46 JAMES DEBONO IT is a further confirmation of Malta's regional class divide: on- ly 5% of students hailing from the southern harbour area and south eastern districts attend private independent schools, where par- ents have to pay fees. In contrast, the percentage rises to 23% in the north harbour dis- trict, marking a clear difference in schooling preference between the 'affluent' north and Malta's south. This educational divide is mir- rored by other divisions, includ- ing socio-economic ones that show higher levels of poverty in the south harbour and south eastern regions, and the politi- cal divide which sees the Labour party being more popular in re- gions with the lowest intake in private schools. The statistics show that over two-thirds of students in Mal- ta's two southern districts attend state schools. This contrasts with the situ- ation in the north harbour and western regions, where students attending church and independ- ent schools are either equal or slightly more numerous than those attending state schools. Gozo, which also registers a strong state sector which attracts 63% of students, lacks any inde- pendent schools and only one church school, the Bishop's sem- inary. In Malta the situation is more balanced in the northern region, which includes urban conglom- erations like Mosta and the more ethnically diverse St Paul's Bay. In these regions, 57% of students at all levels, and more specifically 53% of those at secondary level, attend state schools. These statistics show church schools peaking in Gozo, where there are no private schools, and in the western region which in- cludes rural localities like Rabat and Siggiewi, and more affluent The education divide Only 5% of southerners attend independent schools All region 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 58.1% 28.7% 13.2% State Church Independent State Church Independent 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 68.5% 50% 66.7% 49.4% 57.5% 62.6% 26.4% 27.1% 27.9% 34.9% 26.2% 37.2% 5% 22.9% 5.4% 15.8% 16.3% S Harbour N Harbour S Eastern Western Northern Gozo All region 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 57.1% 29.4% 13.5% State Church Independent State Church Independent 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 67.1% 49.3% 65.6% 46.6% 56.3% 68.2% 28.1% 27.7% 29.1% 36.4% 27.4% 31.3% 4.8% 23% 5.3% 17% 16.3% S Harbour N Harbour S Eastern Western Northern Gozo All region 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 53.3% 35.9% 10.8% State Church Independent State Church Independent 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 64.6% 45.1% 61.7% 45.2% 53.2% 53.8% 32.2% 34.6% 35% 42.6% 32.6% 46.2% 3.2% 20.3% 3.3% 12.2% 14.2% S Harbour N Harbour S Eastern Western Northern Gozo All school levels Split by individual region Primary level Split by individual region Secondary level Split by individual region ALL DATA NATIONAL STATISTICS OFFICE