ddddddClaude Sciberras
Communications Co-ordinator
Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment

The Minister for Education, Youth, and Employment launched a Working Group (WG) tasked with a review of the inclusive and special education sector. This initiative was launched in conjunction with World Disabled Persons Day that was celebrated on Friday 3rd December 2004.

The WG will be chaired by Mr. Lino Spiteri, ex-minister of Finance, and it includes Mr. George Borg, Ms. Anne Marie Callus, Mr. Joseph Cauchi, and Ms. Micheline Sciberras. The Ministry's Policy Unit shall provide the necessary administrative and secretarial support.

The Minister explained that inclusive education provides the educational environment where disabled and non-disabled children learn together, where possible in mainstream school settings. On the other hand, special education is a provision for those students who have a disability that necessitates the provision of special and appropriate educational services.

The 1988 Education Act states that it shall be the duty of the State to provide special schools for the children of Maltese citizens being minor children having special educational needs. In the year 2000, the Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act was published, legalising the right of persons with a disability to equal opportunities in all fields, including in education.

The Minister explained that in the 90s, Malta started implementing the concept of inclusion and witnessed a substantial increase in disabled pupils attending the mainstream schools and a decrease in students in special schools, thus enabling a more specialised and individualised service. In 2000 the National Minimum Curriculum (NMC) emphasised as one of its major principles the issue of Inclusive Education. This was followed by the publication of the Inclusive Education Policy in the same year.

Today there are five special schools catering for approximately 265 students. In these schools, there are approximately 120 teachers, facilitators and kindergarten assistants/supply kindergarten assistants. The Education Division also offers a home service mainly geared towards children with disabilities or who are chronically ill, a peripatetic service for pupils who are hearing or visually impaired, a service of complementary education for children who are demonstrating a developmental lag in academic progress, hospital classes for children who are unwell for long periods of time and a facilitator service that has developed extensively.

In the mainstream, we have approximately 770 facilitators offering their services to just under 1,000 students who have a disability in the mainstream state primary and secondary schools in Malta and Gozo, while approximately 380 disabled students attend Church and Independent schools.

While acknowledging progress made, the Minister also stressed the need for further development of this sector. The quality of life of disabled persons and their families has significantly improved while Maltese society has developed a better understanding and appreciation of the value of inclusive education for the non-disabled students. However, the State is committed to further improve quality education to all students and to help them develop their potential to the maximum. Such a right necessitates that these students are assured of the support and the means to access the national curriculum, ideally in mainstream schools, according to the students' individual needs.

The Minister emphasised that it is precisely for this reason that he is now setting up a Working Group to evaluate the current scenario critically, to review the way inclusive education policy has been implemented so far and its results at kindergarten level and in primary, secondary, post-secondary, and special schools in Malta and Gozo, in both the public and non-public sectors. The Group has also been invited to report on the situation of special schools, to analyse the use of resources in both sectors, and finally to recommend how best to improve the quality of provision. The WG will be consulting with the major stakeholders in the field of inclusive and special education. The WG shall endeavour to present its report to the Minister by the end of June 2005.

The Minister concluded by emphasising the fact that inclusive and special education, involves enabling students to participate in the life and work of mainstream and special educational institutions according to their potential. "It is crucial that our educational system provides the highest standards of provision possible that ultimately help each and every individual strive to reach his or her full potential focusing on their strengths and not on their limitations" the Minister said.