Malta – The Minister for Education Dr. Justyne Caruana met the partners of the project Support to the Migrants Learners’ Unit to improve the inclusion of migrant learners within mainstream education in Malta on 12 July 2021.

The project aims to provide technical support to the existing Migrant Learners' Unit (MLU) within the Ministry for Education (MFED) to further improve integration and create opportunities which benefit children and Malta.

Malta is a country at the cross-roads of different cultures, which make it a unique context where the inherent value of diversity and the myriad of opportunities this presents have been recognized.

Minister Justyne Caruana remarked how the recently published National Strategy for Lifelong Learning (2020 – 2030) incorporates what IOM and the European Commission are after. She stated that “We made sure that the strategy includes measures to provide for community learning: aimed to meet the needs and aspirations of the various communities living within the Maltese Islands, including both the native Maltese and also the migrant communities; respecting the fact that we have a cosmopolitan and diverse society and that such diversity is an enriching experience for all.”

Besides education being an inherent right, migrant children’s effective inclusion in mainstream education has spill over effects in the family and the communities. Children with migratory background can often act as bridges between cultures and generations.

Laurence Hart, IOM Director of the Coordination office for the Mediterranean remarked that ‘Inclusive education of migrant children benefits society as a whole by enhancing social cohesion and encouraging effective integration.’

Through the project, migrant learners’ participation in lifelong learning will be encouraged and support to migrant learners, as well as teachers, will be offered. The project also involves parents, civil society and local authorities from other EU countries and within Malta.

The project is funded by the European Union via the Structural Reform Support Programme and implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in cooperation with the European Commission.

For more information please contact Giulia Musati, IOM Mission Malta, Tel.: +356 27900050, Email: gmusati@iom.int