As thousands of families expect additional rental costs, government is undertaking the task of paying said costs to aid the families. Landlords can claim up to 2% of the property’s market value in rent should they be bound by pre-1995 property leases.

The major reform was announced last Saturday. With approximately 10,000 families affected by the new reform and the total outlay expected to be €1 million in the first year, €3 million in the second, and €5 million in the third year, government will be paying the additional costs.

Any pensioners or social-welfare beneficiaries in pre-1995 leases will have costs covered fully up to a maximum of €10,000 per year. Prime Minister Robert Abela also stated that tenants affected will be offered aid as they are not to be held responsible by failure of the state to act quicker. Full time tenants will pay a maximum of 25% rental costs.

#MaltaDaily

Examiners have lamented that in the A-Level paper during 2020, 10 out of 783 candidates obtained an A grade. The downwards slope was noted up to five years ago in the 2019 report. A grade students seem to have declined to 1.3% from the previous 4.1% in last year’s session. 2020 saw lower percentages than 2017 to 2014. Examiners claimed that this should not be seen as a sign of falling standards.

Ds increased up to 17.9% from 17.2%, with more Cs (30.7% from 29.1%) and Bs (8.1% from 5.9%). As, Es and Fs all seem to have declined, with a high concentration of mid grades B to D. This warrants investigation by educators as to why this has been occurring. A notable decline in poor performances however could be attributed to students having more time to prepare for the exam due to the COVID-19 pandemic.