Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/817563
22 Opinion maltatoday, SUNDAY, 30 APRIL 2017 P redictably, news of a pre-electoral coalition between the Partit Demokratiku and the Na- tionalist Party has brought on a fair amount of cynical reactions. The most common criticism is that we have become no different to the PN, and implicit- ly, that we would have no problem with the PN repeating the same mistakes that led to a historic defeat a few years ago. While a degree of skepticism about the PN may be under- standable, such arguments miss the bigger picture. Studiously avoiding links to a major party would have been the safest option for the PD, involving no risks and allowing us to wash our hands of future developments. But that would also mean irrelevance, and we have not gone through the trouble of setting up a political party to become irrelevant, or worse still, counterproductive. As things stand, only two parties have a realistic chance of leading the next government, and under the present electoral system, it is next to impossible for third parties to gain entry to parliament. In such a situation, and taking into account the fact that third parties naturally attract the votes of people opposed to the government, we were faced with a situation where our existence would actually help guarantee victory for the Labour Party. It would suit the government quite well if the significant – and growing – proportion of the Maltese public opposed to its continued misrule waste their votes and energy arguing against one another. This is only acceptable if one believes that there is no significant difference between the two major parties. But while there's a reason the PN was not exactly popular among PD members in the last general election, it is clear that this is not now the case. The main problems plaguing the previous government – including a lack of good governance, a chronic lack of transparency and insufficient environmental protection – have only become worse under this one. Given the possibility that PD's very existence could help such a government retain power, a difficult decision was in order. We chose to be practical. The recent US presidential election – where Hillary Clinton's failure to inspire progressive voters helped see her lose to Donald Trump – provides a perfect example why. To a Bernie Sanders supporter, Clinton may not have been ideal, but it is clear that the outcome has been much worse. Another case in point is Alternattiva Demokratika's own political history. As a centre-left political party whose priorities include good governance and the environment, PD shares a lot of common ground with AD. But its repeated failure to get elected to parliament inevitably limits its impact. We are not reinventing the wheel – coalitions are the norm in much of Europe – and we have not become the PN. Had we wanted that, we could have easily joined the party directly and saved ourselves the trouble of forging an agreement. And even if a third party gets elected on its own steam, it would have to consider allying with a larger party, with all the risks that entailed. All we are doing, ultimately, is ruling out a coalition with Labour, while at the same time obliging the PN to commit itself to the issues we hold most dear through our joint mani-festo and a legally-binding agreement. Should the coalition win the next election, we would be best-placed to hold it to account should it stray from this agreed path. Should it not succeed, we would continue to work as we are; but we would clearly have a much stronger voice if we also had one in parlia-ment. Karl Camilleri is secretary- general of the Partit Demokratiku Coalition: better than sitting on the fence Delivering firsts in education Karl Camilleri O ver the past four years we have worked hard on improving the education system in a way that it reaches more young people. The tagline 'no child left behind' may be a bit passé, but we are working tirelessly to make sure we give a positive experience, based on skill-building and character development. Building such structures from scratch is not simple – alternative programmes never featured in the education system and I believe the vocational and applied aspect in education was desperately needed in our education offerings. These programmes helped decrease absenteeism rates – but, in my view, attending school is not enough as the ultimate goal is to provide them will tangible skills, and not just daydreaming of doing something else on their desk. We've introduced vocational subjects in the O' levels and programmes such as the Subject Proficiency Assessment, the Foreign Language Awareness Programme, the Prince's Trust XL Programme, which are all success stories in the making. New institutions and programmes such as the Gem 16+ and the Alternative Learning Programme have helped make sure young people have another shot at reaching their potential. Through European funding, we've introduced free SEC revision classes for those students who don't do as well in the May session, and would like to have another go in the September one. In the past, those students who could not afford to pay private tuition were left standing, but now they get to have free classes. In terms of school infrastructure and tools, there was never any other government which invested so much in schools. From technology to software, we have made sure that educators have world-class tools to work with. The gadgets alone won't make a difference – we must also continue building an environment and working conditions that place educators in the best position possible to deliver. We've achieved a lot on this front, but saying we've succeeded would be disingenuous as more can be done. In the past year, we've invested 16 million euros in just two new schools: Kirkop and Dingli. Over the past four years, the total investment in schools reached well over 55 million euros. I'm not one to boast about impressive financial outlays, I think education is more than just how much you spend, however I do think that such investment shows the government's commitment to this sector. We talk about a good economy, and why it is important. An economy that is delivering results means that we have invested more in education. We can help that student who failed an 'O' level get the free tuition he or she needs. We can invest in better infrastructure so that our children enjoy going to school. We can invest in better technology so that teachers have the tools to work with. We can offer more vocational and applied programmes which are more personal and therefore need more investment to function. We can continue investing in support and social programmes so that those students who come from difficult backgrounds get all the attention and help they need. Some of these initiatives are a continuation of what has been built in previous legislatures, however a lot has been done in the past four years and in education, we are truly delivering firsts. Evarist Bartolo is Minister of Education and Employment Evarist Bartolo We can continue investing in support and social programmes so that those students who come from difficult backgrounds get all the attention and help they need Studiously avoiding links to a major party would mean irrelevance