Dear parents, young adults, and educators.One of the deepest responsibilities in politics is to speak honestly about the country our children will inherit. That is why I want to write to you about education.Not as something we mention respectfully before moving on to the “real economy.”Education is the real economy.In my article imagining what a journalist might write about Malta in 2037, I said the Malta we must build next is one where progress is something people can feel in the peace of mind with which they end each day. That future begins in the classroom. And in a national decision to guarantee progress by putting education first again.Today’s young people are being asked to place the biggest bet of their lives on a model that even the Minister of Finance, Clyde Caruana, admits must change.Malta has done well in creating growth, jobs and wealth. But when an economy is producing visible income, it can lull its people into thinking its is stronger than it really is.Why is a labour-heavy economy reaching its limitOur economy can make it feel like education matters less than it truly does. If work is available today, it is easy to assume our children will be fine. However, artificial intelligence is advancing at a speed that traditional politics struggles to grasp. In just a few years, today’s AI will be replaced by systems that organise and apply knowledge at a much higher level.To compete, Malta must embrace innovation as a part of its educational development. We cannot run the country on the assumption that we can always import more labour or expand physical volume. This approach is not a long-term plan.We must turn our current momentum into systemic progress by giving our people the skills they need for the world of 2050.Are we building the skills Malta needs for the future?Over the last decade, Malta has been successful in creating growth, jobs and wealth. But Malta has also reached a turning point.This is the question Malta can no longer postpone: what skills, knowledge and capabilities will our people need for the economy of the future, and are we building them quickly enough?When a country delays this shift, students feel underprepared for the future. Workers feel the system does not help them improve fast enough. Parents worry about whether their children will truly have a better quality of life.Just recently, the Minister of Finance argued that every economy rests on three foundations: land, people and capital. He has a point: Malta must continue attracting capital, and the Nationalist Party has a long record of building the credibility, institutions and European future that made that possible. But I do not accept the idea that Malta has somehow exhausted the value of labour simply because increasing it has too often been reduced to population growth.The OECD’s 2025 analysis shows that Malta faces skills mismatches and low skill levels among adults. We will not treat our citizens as an exhausted resource. Instead, we see our people as the area where Malta has the most room for innovation.That is why our answer is different. We will map the skills the country needs, build continuous labour-market intelligence, and invest in lifelong learning and upskilling so that Maltese workers can move into higher-value roles and Malta can create more wealth from the talent it already has.Why education is now our most important economic policyBusinesses say they are struggling to find the right skills. Young people look ahead and sense that the jobs of the future will not be won by presence alone, but by capability.That is why education must be at the centre of economic policy, not parked at the side of it.This matters not only for wages and opportunity, but for the pressure Malta now feels on space, roads, housing and services. Mapping skills reduces the daily pressure on our roads and housing allowing us to guarantee a future that depends on talent instead of sheer population growth. By using innovation, we can create more value. Moving into higher-value roles is essential for a more productive Malta.An outdated modelThe old model gave many people work. It gave many families breathing space. But it is not enough for the future.The new model will not appear by magic. It will not be imported or declared into existence by a speech. It will be built through people, skill, discipline, confidence, and education. That is why I do not speak about education as a soft issue but as a hard national strategy.How AI will reshape the way we workAI is a force of constant innovation that will reshape everything and drive global innovation. Malta can either prepare its people early or spend the next decade watching others move faster.The shift is about building a complete learning system for a country that wants to compete at a higher level, with stronger foundations in all sectors. This means vocational and technical education with real prestige, apprenticeships that lead somewhere, lifelong learning that gives adults the chance to adapt, schools, colleges, employers and government working from the same map.What will we do for skills and education in Malta?First, education must sit at the centre of national policy. We will help schools rebuild a culture that values discipline, curiosity, and ambition to guarantee a future built on national character – not just economic volume.Second, we will carry out a full national skills mapping exercise and build permanent labour-market intelligence, so that Malta finally knows where it stands, and what it lacks.Third, we will use that knowledge to shape an education roadmap for the Malta of 2037 from early years to tertiary education, from vocational routes to adult continuous learning.Fourth, we will treat vocational and technical excellence with the respect it deserves. Malta needs professionals like educators, doctors, engineers and innovation specialists, but it also needs artists who give a country depth, character and confidence.Fifth, we will invest heavily in reskilling and lifelong learning. This is a strategy that helps workers move into more productive and better-paid roles, easing the country’s dependence on labour-intensive growth.What can we expect?Ten years from now, young people will feel that Malta is backing them seriously. Parents will feel they are helping their children build something durable. Workers will have more routes to move up, earn better, and guarantee stability. Businesses will rely less on volume and more on capability. And the country will finally have a real path from quantity to quality.So this is my appeal.– To parents: do not confuse today’s comfort with the guarantee of tomorrow’s security.– To young people: your ambition is not a burden on this country – it’s this country’s best hope.– To educators: your role is fundamental to the national project – you are at the centre of it.– To Malta: if we want a freer, stronger, self-reliant future, we must start where every serious future starts.We must put education first because the economy of the future will not be borrowed. It will be learned through national innovation.Lovin Malta is open to interesting, compelling guest posts from third parties. These opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the company. Submit your piece at hello@lovinmalta.com•