Fondi mill-unjoni ewropea

Analiżi tal-fondi deħlin lejn Malta mill-Unjoni Ewropea u ħerġin lejn l-UE minn Malta għal dis-sena u s-sena d-dieħla tagħmel qari interessanti.

Skont l-istimi tal-baġit, dis-sena 2015, il-gvern kellu jdaħħal 239 miljun ewro f’għotjiet mill-Unjoni Ewropea. Fihom kien hemm somom kbar li “ntirtu” mis-snin ta’ qabel meta fondi strutturali għal Malta baqgħu ma ntefqux.

Il-gvern iqis li se jdaħħal 9 miljun ewro anqas milli kien bassar. Ukoll għal dis-sena, l-gvern kien stima li se jħallas lill-Ewropa is-somma ta’ 87 miljun ewro. Imma se jispiċċa jkun ħallas 15-il miljun ewro aktar. Xorta, bejn dħul u ħruġ mal-UE, dis-sena kienet ixxamplata.

L-istorja tinbidel għas-sena d-dieħla. M’hemmx flejjes x'”jintirtu”, imma biss il-fondi tas-sena kurrenti, 2016. L-għotjiet mistennija jlaħħqu ftit anqas minn 60 miljun ewro.

Sadattant, il-ħruġ bħala kontribuzzjoni lejn il-baġit tal-Unjoni Ewropea s-sena d-dieħla qed jiġi stmat mal-94 miljun ewro.

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Disleksja

Kelli laqgħa ma’ ġenituri ta’ tfal bid-disleksja u żgħażagħ li għandhom dil-kundizzjoni. L-affarijiet tjiebu, imma mhux daqstant miż-żmien meta aktar minn għoxrin sena ilu, konna niltaqgħu ma’ familji milquta mid-disleksja biex nifhmu kif nistgħu niżguraw li uliedhom ikollhom aċċess għal edukazzjoni sħiħa.

Il-problemi għadhom l-istess:

Kif se tinduna kmieni bil-kundizzjoni (li ma tħallix lit-tfal jaqraw test mingħajr ma sistematikament iħawdu l-ittri tal-alfabett, ħaġa li titfagħhom lura sew fit-tagħlim)?

Kif, meta tkun indunajt bil-kundizzjoni, tipprovdi taħriġ tajjeb għalihom?

Kif tikkonvinċi lil għalliema u “employers” li d-disleksja hi kondizzjoni reali, mhux mistħajla jew ivvintata, u li min għandu d-disleksja għandu l-intelliġenza u d-doni kollha biex jimxi ‘l quddiem?

Is-sistemi edukattivi baqagħlhom ħafna x’jagħmlu biex jilqgħu għall-isfida tad-disleksja. Tolqot mal-10 fil-mija tal-popolazzjoni kollha.

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Sartre, de Beauvoir

Spiċċajt naqra l-awtobiografija qasira ta’ Bianca Lamblin “Il-Memorji ta’ Tfajla Mħarbta”. Tinqara bħala t-tifsira li tat l-awtriċi lilha nnifisha u lil ta’ madwarha dwar l-impatt li kellhom fuq ħajjitha Jean Paul Sartre u Simone de Beauvoir.

Kellha magħhom ta’ età żgħira, ħbiberija “bejn tlieta”. Fis-snin ta’ wara t-Tieni Gwerra Dinjija, baqgħet ħabiba ma’ Beauvoir. Meta wara mewthom, jiġu pubblikati l-ittra ta’ bejn Sartre u Beauvoir, Lamblin skopriet kif kienu ttrattawha ta’ pupa lesta għall-gost tagħhom u biex jeħilsu minnha malli ddejjaqhom.

Ir-rendikont punġenti ta’ Lamblin jinħass awtentiku. L-aktar parti qalila hu fejn tirrakkonta kif Sartre u Beauvoir “insewha” għal kollox (għax Lhudija?) meta l-Ġermaniżi okkupaw Franza u fetħu kaċċa għal-Lhud.

Madankollu meta titkellem dwar ir-relazzjonijiet sentimentali tagħha mal-koppja, Lamblin donnha mhix qed tgħid kollox.

English Version – Eu Funds

An assessment of the public funds coming to Malta from the European Union and going to the EU from Malta, for this year and next, raises interesting questions.

According to the budget estimates for this year 2015, the government was due to receive 239 million euros by way of EU grants. These included big amounts carried over from previous years when structural funds earmarked for Malta remained unspent.

The government is now estimating that it will get nine million euros less than it had projected.

Also for this year, the government had expected it would be contributing the sum of 87 million euros to the EU budget.

But it is going to end up paying an additional 15 million euros.

Even so, for this year the balance between outgo and income is very positive.

Next year, it will be a different story. There are no carry over funds in the pipeline, only monies earmarked for the year 2016.

Grants are expected to reach a level that is slightly lower than 60 million euros.

Meanwhile, the estimate for Malta’s contribution to next year’s EU budget stands at 94 million euros.

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Dyslexia

I had a meeting with parents whose children are dyslexic and young people with the condition. More than twenty years ago, mycolleaguesand I would meet families who had tocope with dyslexia, in order to understand what needed to be done for their children to have a full access to education. I discovered that the situation has improved, but not so much.

The problems have certainly not changed.

How can one detect at the earliest the existence of dyslexia (which prevents children from reading a text correctly because they systematically confuse the letters in the alphabet, which inhibits their educational development)?

How can good educational provision be made for them, once dyslexia has been diagnosed?

How can teachers and employers be persuaded that dyslexia is a real condition, not an imaginary or invented state of mind, and that dyslexic children have all the intelligence and qualities needed to achieve progress?

A lot still needs to be done to enable the educational system to overcome the challenges posed by dyslexia. It affects 10 per cent of the overall population.

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Sartre, de Beauvoir

I just finished Bianca Lamblin’s short autobiography “Memoirs of a Disturbed Young Woman”. It reads like an explanation which the author provided for herself and her acquaintances,regarding the impact which Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir had on her life.

When still very young, she shared a three-way “friendship” with them. In the years following the Second World War, she remained friends with Beauvoir. When after both had died, the letters between Sartre and Beauvoir were published, Lamblin discovered that they had dealt with her as if she were a doll, ready for their pleasure, and easy to dispose of as soon as they got bored with her.

Lamblin’s account has a certain pungency and sounds authentic. Its cruellest section is where she describes howSartre and Beauvoir “abandoned” her completely when the Germans occupied France and began to arrest Jews (she was Jewish).

However when she discusses her sentimental relations with the couple, it does seem as ifLamblin is leaving some things out.