The Sunday Times has reported that 50 retail outlets - the "bulk" of which are sport shops - have been suspended from the student smart card scheme after they were caught selling unauthorised products which "included mobile top-up cards, casual clothing and even a
weightlifting set".
The Students Maintenance Board which monitors the system found out that 30% of the money put on smart cards was spent at bookshops, 25% at computer shops, 15% on sportswear, 16% at newsagents and 10% on the binding of theses, medical equipment, hair-dressing and beauty therapy
material.
There is a national consensus that educational opportunities should be commensurate with natural capabilities. If the social and economic background of one's parents limits opportunities, the state is obliged to remove as much of them as possible.
At the same time, students should never be allowed to lose sight of a simple fact. Stipends and free tertiary education are funded by taxpayers. And among those taxpayers are young men and women of the same age as those who are paid to study.
Put crudely, youngsters in employment are paying for those who are studying so that they, that is the latter, can continue to improve their work and life chances. Rita the 19-year old stuck to an assembly line pays taxes to pay for educating another 19-year old Rita to become an engineer and thereby widen even more the life chances gap between them.
Clearly, there is a built-in element of 'injustice' in the delivery of equality of educational opportunities. But this is tolerable because the ultimate goal is worthwhile.
What is not tolerable, however, is the squandering of taxes by young students on hairdressing, beauty therapy and weight lifting equipment. When this happens, it has to be recognised that something, somewhere is going wrong.
And I am not talking about the retailers here. They are the symptom, not the cause.
8 comments:
There are students buying LCDs and PS3 with smart cards from IT shops. This should be investigated and stopped as we are paying for these from our taxes!!!
"Clearly, there is a built-in element of 'injustice' in the delivery of equality of educational opportunities"
Disagree. Rita the factory worker has the same opportunities to study as Rita the future engineer.
Rest is fair comment however!
Once an operator at the factory I was employed at as a freshly graduated engineer, told me :
"Hekk seww jien inhallas it-taxxi biex int ikollok l-istipendju umbaghad tigi hawn u tikmandani"
I replied "kien imissek studjajt u ghamilt l-istess bhali"
In reality once Rita the engineer graduates and finds employment she will repay back her stipend and more in a few years, whereas Rita the assembler will most probably not pay any taxes since she will be earning below the tax ceiling.
In fact Rita the assembler will complain that she has to pay taxes whenever she works some overtime and qualifies to pay some tax.
Most probably, smart cards used on hairdressing/beauty products are only used by students actually studying these subjects, so there is no abuse involved.
Hairdressing/Beauty students at MCAST are using their smart cards to buy items required for their schooling, so there is no abuse of the system.
@Serafin
Not so fast.
For starters most factory workers work over time and although they work longer hours and have more physically demanding jobs they tend to get due to overtime, shift allowance and the like they end up getting close to the salary an engineer gets especially if he isn't paid for overtime or weekends.
That's because in Malta if you are not self employed but are an engineer or IT professional your pay is about half that of your colleagues abroad. Facotry operators tend to get the same wages though.
Your reply of 'kien imissek studjajt' is also unjust and with all due respect shows a poor understanding of social circumstances one encounters if one looks around. Some children just do not have the opportunity to study because they are brought up in a household where education is not a priority.
So it wouldn't be because they are ignorant or lazy but because of the family they were born into. True you may argue that adult education is affordable and achievable but it is a hundred times more difficult going back to school as an adult and it still may not be possible again due to social circumstances.
You fail to mention that Rita (the engineer) will eventually pay taxes and contribute to the unemployment benefits of Rita (the ex-factory worker).
Lou, since when are you also an economist?
Agreed.
Why not introduce a simple condition to the stipend;
Anyone accepting it to compensate with a minimum number of years working in Malta. It doesn't have to be time barred, nor lumped together.
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