Non-Maltese in local education up 50 per cent in five years

Non-Maltese student numbers in local compulsory education, including state, church and private schools, have risen by almost 50 per cent in five years, with state schools educating four in five of these pupils as Labour’s reliance on imported cheap labour reshapes Malta’s population.

Recent National Statistics Office figures show non-Maltese enrolment increased from 7,862 in 2019-20 to 11,709 in 2024-25.

At the same time, enrolment of Maltese students fell by 3.5 per cent, from 50,413 to 48,630.

The result is a marked change beneath a modest increase in overall student numbers, as almost one in five pupils now holds non-Maltese citizenship, compared with roughly one in seven five years earlier.

Non-EU enrolment, so-called Third Country Nationals (TCNs),  drove the increase, rising 70 per cent to 7,867.

Indian student numbers more than quadrupled, from 167 to 747.

The implications are clearest in free state schools, which enrolled 9,269 non-Maltese pupils in 2024-25. They represented 25.8 per cent of state-school enrolment, compared with just 1.2 per cent in church schools.

In the latest year alone, state schools recorded 1,019 fewer Maltese pupils and 989 additional non-Maltese pupils. Almost unchanged enrolment therefore concealed a substantial shift in classroom composition.

These figures sharpen the question facing Labour’s economic model, led by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, which opened Malta’s floodgates to cheap labour to pump up unsustainable economic growth.

Clyde Caruana acknowledged in October that businesses’ reliance on third-country nationals reflected a preference for cheaper labour over investment in machinery and technology.

Yet Prime Minister Robert Abela defended annual population growth of around 14,000 in July, describing that level as manageable while promising a slower, calibrated increase.