Education, research, innovation and sport: the Malta-Turin axis to ensure a better future for young people

A Malta-Turin-Italy axis built on innovation, research, training, sport and young people. This is what Clifton Grima, minister of the University of Malta, is building when in Turin he met with the rector of the Polytechnic Guido Saracco, the president of the Piedmont Region, Alberto Cirio, and the councilor for Sport Fabrizio Ricca. Malta is strategically a gateway to Africa but also a growing territory where unemployment is absent. “We are investing a lot so that Malta evolves into an educational laboratory – says Minister Grima – and Turin is an excellent partner, because it has educational institutions that have history, credibility, potential, at a national and international level”.
A dialogue between Malta and the Piedmontese capital which is based on a functional educational development to express the full potential of young people and to improve the quality of daily life of citizens: «I say this as a family man, the education system must bring benefits to every single student to exploit his potential, ensuring him all the necessary opportunities for this purpose. We must stop distinguishing between formal and informal education, but we must make a distinction between a good and complete education and a bad and incomplete one, which does not give the necessary skills for the development of our young people”. Young people who unfortunately do not always have a future, forced to flee their countries of origin due to poverty, political and economic instability, wars, as happens in Africa. Malta, like Italy, in fact plays a central role in the issue of migratory flows in the Mediterranean, a problem which, as Minister Grima continues, «involves the whole European continent and not just the countries bordering the Mediterranean. All the countries of the European Union must work together to bring stability and find solutions to this phenomenon, a human tragedy which unfortunately is becoming a daily reality. There are young people and families who leave everything to look for a better future and we must give them an alternative. Where there is no peace, economic prosperity, stability, one cannot plan for the future».
A future that Grima is building in Malta also thanks to the synergy between sustainability, education and sport, promoting initiatives that have led to sustainable consumption and physical activity being present every day in schools: «Education has a central role in bringing about change of society. If you invest in initiatives where young people learn the importance of sustainability, you automatically reach families at home. Sport is also an integral part of this process. Over the years the mistake has been made of believing that sport and education are two different things, but sport is not just a game, it conveys fundamental values ​​for the education of children and brings mental and physical benefits. A sporting life is healthier and involves better nutrition, avoiding obesity problems, for example. I remember my grandfather who always told me: in the war he died of hunger now we die from too much food ».