Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/244624
22 Opinion maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JANUARY 2014 Addressing the skills deficit E arlier this week we launched a new programme that will aim to address the problem that we face by having almost half of our Fifth Form students either giving up at the last hurdle, or managing to succeed in only one or two subjects at O-Level examinations. We cannot turn a blind eye to this serious situation – having so many youngsters falling by the wayside without receiving any support. These students must be given the necessary preparation for their working life and this new course will provide work and academic training to ensure that more and more youngsters have the necessary skills to meet the current job market demand. Also this week, the European Commission launched the McKinsey report – an important work that emphasised the role of education to employment. It deals with the skills and employment crisis that Europe has faced and Evarist Bartolo that it is still experiencing. Malta is no exception, and personally I feel that this issue cannot be stressed hard enough. The removal of trade schools here in Malta created a void at the secondary level which we have not yet succeeded in dealing with. The courses that have been introduced aim to improve work-based learning and to increase the attractiveness of vocational training. My government knows that it can create jobs. We have done so during the first nine months in government, but we must also have the people with the required skills to fill these vacancies. In most cases, employers nowadays want to select ready-made talents, not focus on developing the talents they need. In the past, many companies could afford to invest in on-the-job training, while more recently there has been a consistently growing demand to Statistical data shows that we have an increase in employment coupled with an increase in unemployment do more on-the-job training while in school through internship and apprentice programs, so that people can come to the job ready to hit the ground running. It is believed that the real issue that we currently face is more of a 'skills crisis' rather than a 'job crisis'. Statistical data shows that we have an increase in employment coupled with an increase in unemployment. This anomalous situation clearly shows that the skills gap is a determining factor in unemployment rates. We must address the skills deficit. We have a number of policy initiatives that will help us bridge the gap between employment opportunities and employability. Education is the key. We have to rethink education to cater for those academically gifted and those gifted with particular Having your cake and eating i Claudine Cassar T here are various hot issues to talk about at the moment in Malta – Mater Dei bursting at the seams; Arriva leaving us in the lurch; and the notorious Individual Investor Programme. As expected, a quick flick through comments and blogs on the internet shows that Labourites and Nationalists have diametrically opposing views and opinions on these matters. However, in my opinion, it is not the major political parties that are to blame for the sorry state of affairs, but the electorate. Just like our southern European brothers and sisters, the Maltese population wants everything while it is prepared to give nothing. The last electoral campaign was surreal. Despite being in the middle of a financial crisis, with the government finding it impossible to balance our budget, both parties were promising the moon. Any visitor would have 'More fiscal prudence and a few less promises here and there would have given Joseph Muscat's Labour Party a smaller majority but, paradoxically, an easier time governing' thought that Malta was sitting on a trillion dollar reserve of crude oil. My column is becoming nauseatingly repetitive, but I just cannot help it. PN promised an income tax reduction during the 2008 election. They postponed their promise till the last second and then dumped it onto the following legislature. PN were well placed to predict the problems Labour would face in office – after all they had been there and done that for several years. Election after election they promised state of the art healthcare, free education with stipends, quick and reliable public transport, etc. But all their projects stumbled due to a lack of funds. Joseph Muscat and the Labour Party learnt an unfortunate lesson from the Alfred Sant legislature: Malta doesn't want a reality check. Any questions regarding how they planned to fund their projects were just shrugged off; no "hofra" or "issikkar tac-cinturin" this time. The IIP project was clearly on the cards but was presumably (and possibly rightly) deemed to be too dangerous to try to sell to the public before the election. We all remember the 2008 election photo finish which left Labour with a surprise defeat. Both parties seemed to have miscalculated the polls, as both PN and MLP were bracing themselves for a loss and a win respectively. In 2012, the rebranded PL did not rest on its Joseph Muscat and the Labour Party learnt an unfortunate lesson from the Alfred Sant legislature: Malta doesn't want a reality check