Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/378361
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2014 News 4 MATTHEW VELLA THE Chamber of Commerce has expressed dismay at news that new public transport operator Alesa will be paid a subsidy of between €24 million and €29 million for the new public service. The country's national bus op- eration was nationalised in Janu- ary 2014 after losses and network breakdowns drove Deutsche Bahn subsidiary Arriva Malta to the ground. Spanish operator Alesa is the successful bidder succeeding it in offering a new operation. "Whilst the importance of public transport reform is truly recog- nised, the Chamber fears that this outlay may recreate a 'drydocks situation' which the country even- tually managed to successfully and bravely resolve," the Chamber said in a statement. "Besides the amount of subsidy in- volved, the situation is reminiscent of the drydocks because the coun- try has, so far, never managed to adequately reform public transport and there are, of course, no guar- antees the next attempt will be suc- cessful." The Chamber of Commerce also complained that the reported out- lay was unlike its recommendation to its 'Economic Vision for Malta', which disagrees with infrastructur- al investment that increases debt- to-GDP levels. "To consider the matter from a slightly different angle, it may be useful to place the total maximum subsidy of €29 million into perspec- tive. The authorities have, to date, declined to offer compensation to Malta's highest energy-dependent companies beyond the announced 25 per cent discount planned for March next year. "At half of the subsidy cost prom- ised to the bus operator, the author- ities could have offered utility tar- iffs, equivalent to the EU average, to these companies, thereby provid- ing a boost to the country's export competitiveness and safeguarding precious jobs in this challenging economic scenario." The Chamber said the govern- ment should "seriously reconsider its position" on the new transport reform. "If the reported figures are correct, the level of annual subsidy cannot be justified in terms of any derived national economic benefit." Subsidy-shy Chamber pours cold water over Alesa bus deal Early school-leavers learn 'soft skills' in bid to join workforce Chamber of Commerce says the €29 million subsidy takes taxpayers for a ride and complains that the highest energy-dependent companies got no compensation beyond a 25% cut on tariffs for March 2015 MATTHEW AGIUS THE problem of early school-leavers was a "legacy of the past 10 years", education minister Evarist Bartolo told reporters at IT learning centre Computer Domain, which is offer- ing EU-funded courses in digital literacy for early school-leavers. The education ministry offers four programmes for early school- leavers to assist them as they join the workforce without skills. 140 students were offered cours- es under the Alternative Learn- ing Programme, the first round of which ended in June, including a programme for MCAST students as an alternative to repeating a year, and a personal development course to build students' life skills and courses in digital proficiency. The parliamentary secretary for EU funds, Ian Borg, said €90,000 had been spent from a €2.5 mil- lion fund for the Youth Guarantee Project, which is part-financed by the European Social Fund. "We are facing a big challenge. It is terrible when people have given up on their education at 20," Minis- ter Bartolo said. Young persons who do not want to sit for Secondary Education Cer- tificate examinations can choose a variety of alternative programmes of study, which include skills for job searching, interpersonal skills, as well as programming, robotics and digital gaming – all intended to equip them with the skills neces- sary to find employment in today's competitive job market. The feedback certainly seems positive, as one 17-year-old student, Daniela Borg, explained. "I found the 'soft skills' course (a mix of interpersonal relations course) particularly useful, because I want to set up a hairdressing busi- ness," she said. Bartolo said that the alternative courses were essential to young people who, he said, were "hostile to the school environment". "So we wanted to offer alterna- tive, more pleasant atmospheres, like here at Computer Domain," Bartolo said, adding he hopes the scheme will recapture many un- employed youths who are also cur- rently not in education. "There were cases where youths would not even consider to work or register with the ETC as unem- ployed," he said, adding that a pro- gramme for this particular demo- graphic would also be unveiled in the coming weeks. Bartolo said resistance to con- tinuing education grows as time passes and when the student has been away from formal education. "To minimise this, as of the next scholastic year, these alternative courses will start immediately and not from January, as was previously the case." Computer Domain's managing director, Nick Callus, expressed satisfaction at the 100% success rate of the students in the courses his school offered. Giving due cred- it to the enthusiasm and commit- ment of the students, he added that some were now working on viable business ideas.