SkolaSajf – Malta

• November 25, 2022
• eskills

SkolaSajf provides children aged between 3 and 16 years with the opportunity to engage in a series of cultural, artistic and physical activities, and outings, during the summer months.

It is an invitation to everyone to join forces for a healthy environment and society. It is also an opportunity to inspire children to be citizens who care about their community and the environment that they live in.

Details about this programme

The Skolasajf service is given from State Primary Schools and from the 5 Resource Centres, around Malta and Gozo. It runs for eight weeks from Monday to Friday.  Skolasajf has become an annual appointment. Based on a programme of informal activities, Skolasajf reaches children who attend State, Independent and Church schools. The service is delivered in mainstream schools.

This year eSkills Malta Foundation has collaborated with Data Science Malta and the Foundation for Educational Services (FES) to provide fun robotics sessions to 30 SkolaSajf Centres.

The Foundation understands that Robotics is a topic that eventually offers opportunities to introduce children to complex subjects like programming and engineering; but in a way that’s fun and interactive.  Robotics are a fun introduction to programming and is an excellent skill to adopt for future career development. Robotics help the children with their problem-solving skills, it encourages their curiosity and creativity and prepares them for a technological future.

Why is this a good practice?

The SkolaSajf initiative is so successful because of the approach. Skolasajf is being offered 5 days a week in 57 centres in Malta and Gozo, where 36 of these centres offer an extended service of hours in the early morning and in the afternoon, exclusively for working parents.

The service is also provided in 5 Resource Centres, which are attended by students with disabilities. This initiative is another step to make it more possible for parents to manage their work commitments.

There are 2232 workers to employed to fulfil the roles of Regional Coordinators, Centre Coordinators, Playworkers and Child Support Workers, and Sports Playworkers. Skolasajf workers are instrumental in the coordination of the centres, and in the implementation of the Skolasajf Programme. The programme is also complemented with the collaboration of a number of partners who are valuable contributors to the enhancement of the learning opportunities provided to the students.