€118K in direct order to set up school transport tracking system

Jul 5 2022

The education ministry has just awarded a €118,800 direct order to a private company to set up a tracking system for school transport.

This measure was first promised to parents four years ago in 2018 by the then education minister Evarist Bartolo.

According to a notice published in the Government Gazette, the education ministry awarded the contract to Handson Systems Ltd to provide a ‘three-year monthly support and maintenance for fobs tracking solution for school transport system.’

A fob is hand-held electronic device that can be attached to keychains. The company was also awarded another direct contract worth €132,500 to provide ‘additional equipment to install on 250 new vehicles under the free state school transport.’

Government procurement cannot, according to regulations, exceed €10,000 by direct order unless in exceptional circumstances or last resorts.

When the free school transport scheme was launched in 2019, Bartolo had explained that every vehicle would be equipped with an electronic reader to notify parents through an app whenever their children exit the vehicle.

The system has yet to come into effect, with parents having mixed reactions to the system. Back in 2021, a 3-year-old girl was locked in a garage for hours after she was forgotten in a school minivan and thus resurfacing the issue.

A spokesperson for Education Minister Clifton Grima told Malta Daily that the process followed all public procurement regulations.

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Birkirkara and Santa Venera residents without power for over eight hours

Jul 5 2022

Residents in Birkirkara and Santa Venera were left out of electricity for around 8 hours starting Monday evening after several faults in an underground cable developed.

Enemalta revealed on Facebook that a fault developed on an 11kV underground cable on Monday. Supply was restored when supply was switched to an alternative source but the alternative cable also developed a fault moments later.

Enemalta reported that excavation works were carried out through the night so that ‘our technical team may carry out the necessary repairs to resolve this issue.’

Meanwhile, another team worked on connecting substations to generators, in order to restore electricity as soon as possible. Posting two hours ago, Enemalta revealed that ‘supply has been restored via-generators. These customers should expect a short yet necessary outage until they are re-connected to the grid.’

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Malta ranks in 51st place in terms of IQ reveals new survey

Jul 5 2022

A new survey and research by ‘World Population Review’ has placed Malta in 51st place when it comes to overall IQ in 2022.

According to a 2019 study by researchers Richard Lynn and David Becker at the Ulster Institute, it was found that the highest average IQ scores in the world belong to Japan, and it was carried on to 2022.

IQs are measured with standardised tests and receiving a score that ranks their intelligence level. IQ also typically reflect the quality of education and resources available to a people’s geographic region.

Japan, with a ranking of 106.49 in IQ, was closely followed by Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. However, China takes the top of the list when it comes to top 10 smartest countries based on students’ test scores in maths, reading and science.

Malta placed between Barbados and Myanmar, with an a score of 91.27 with its 444,033 population in 2022.

However, the research also points out that IQ isn’t the only way to measure intelligence. Seeking out the smartest countries in the world, IQ might have nothing to do with the ranking.

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June 2022 was the hottest Maltese summer in 100 years

Jul 5 2022

According to reports by weather Facebook page ‘It-Temp Madwarna’, June 2022 was a record-breaking month with two scorching heat waves at the start and end.

The first summer month and the sixth month of the year, June 2022 recorded not a single droplet of rain as the sun radiated intense heat onto the islands.

It was found that June 2022 had maximum temperatures 4.2°C hotter than the average 28.2°C, with the minimum temperatures being around 3.2°C higher than the average 18.9°C.

The highest recorded temperature for the month was 39°C on the 28th of June, whereas the lowest temperature was recorded at 19°C during several dawns during the middle of the month.

No rain was recorded during the month of June, ranked at 0% of the average 4.2mm, and no storm was recorded either. Several days began with a low hanging mist as well as a repeated occurrence of desert dust settling over the island.

The month was relatively calm when it came to wind force, as only two days were registered with over Force 5 winds. The highest wind force was registered at Force 7 on the 10th of June. The sea temperature also soared from 20°C to around 23°C by the end.

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