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maltatoday SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER 2017 News 13 MAPFRE MSV Life p.l.c. is authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority to carry on long term business under the Insurance Business Act, 1998. COM MSV241117 All MAPFRE MSV Life customers can now benefit from attractive discounts at a wide range of outlets including household goods, hotel accommodation, health and beauty products, electronic equipment and restaurants. To start benefiting from Insure and Save, download the Mapfre Plus mobile application now from the App Store and Google Play. Teachers' union plays down lower PIRLS score TIA RELJ IC THE president of the Malta Union of Teachers, Marco Bon- nici, has given short shrift to the global literacy report PIRLS, which last week revealed Malta fared worse in 2016 than in 2011 in literacy among children. Bonnici echoed education min- ister Evarist Bartolo when as- sessing the reading scores test, saying it was a "comparative test that does not consider the re- alities of bilingual countries in Malta." Bartolo has explained that the results are different due to the inherent differences between the studies of 2011 and 2016 (see Opinion, page 24). In 2011, the test was adminis- tered to 10-year-olds in Maltese as a benchmark exercise but the main test was administered in English reading, resulting in a score of 477. In 2016, however, the main test was administered in Maltese only. "Moreover, in 2016, we have a much larger share of non- Maltese students in our schools which may not possess the nat- ural ability in the language had they been Maltese," the minister said. The report, which the minister failed to announce last week and in fact wasn't given any publicity in the first week, placed Malta in 40th place out of 50 participat- ing countries – making it the worst performing among all Eu- ropean countries. More pertinently, the report showed that Malta fared sig- nificantly worse in 2016, with a score of (452), than it did in 2011 (457). In both instances, Malta remained under the internation- al average score of 500. The Progress in International Reading Study (PIRLS) tested the reading ability of ten-year- olds in 50 countries. The study is conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Eval-uation of Educational Achievement (IEA). "I am not shy of criticising the education system and policies introduced then and now, when they don't succeed. But it would be very unfair to compare apples and oranges, and give a differ- ent im-pression. This is why it is important to understand the me- chanics of a study, before simply dishing out the result," Bartolo said. Similarly, Bonnici also re- marked on the fact that the test was administered only in Mal- tese, and hence excluded a num- ber of students from the study. "An amount of students in schools, in which the Maltese language for them is not their natural language, could not par- ticipate in an effective way. This ultimately affected the percent- ages and the comparisons be- tween countries which cannot really be compared," he said, adding that a number of other bilingual countries with similar circumstances to Malta decided to not participate in PIRLS, pos- sibly referring to countries such as Estonia and Cyprus which, like Malta, are small countries. When contacted by this news- paper, Nationalist MP and shad- ow education minister Therese Co-modini Cachia failed to com- ment. Stockholm police believe that €80 million is still missing from a pen- sion fund of some €270 million in savings by 22,000 clients. The fund was represented by directors To- nio Fenech, Zammit and Xuereb, but the investment decisions were taken by the Malta firm Temple As- set Management, which was fined €612,000 by the MFSA over licence breaches and had its authorisation suspended. Falcon Funds' directors have also taken up a battle in court, accusing Temple of investing over €10 mil- lion of savers' cash in what turned out to be an 'advance' to Ingmanson and his London company. But Swedish investigators dropped a criminal investigation on the Maltese director of Falcon Funds. "What they [the directors] are saying is that they have been misled about these investments. I must be able to show that there was a purpose for crime," prosecutor Arne Fors of Stockholm police said. Fors said that while the MFSA's recent actions might have been informed by Falcon's gross negli- gence, "I must be able to show that there has been a purpose for crime." The Swedish investigation re- mains ongoing with some 15 sus- pects being investigated, while the Swedish pensions authority says it is keeping the door open for legal proceedings against the Maltese. The police has also failed to track any of the money suspected of hav- ing been dispersed across the globe. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Malta pension arrested in London Emil Amir Ingmanson An amount of students in schools, for whom Maltese is not their natural language, could not participate in an effective way