Opposition spokesman on education Evarist Bartolo on Wednesday recounted in Parliament what had happened in the adjudication process for tenders for the provision of IT courses for Mcast. He remarked that the work of the adjudicating board was very amateurish and it had no clear criteria on adjudication.

Earlier in his speech, he said that documents laid on the table of the House relating to the Code of Ethics and the framework of good governance in public administration emphasised such values as integrity, professionalism and accountability among others, but that problems arose when facing real-life situations.

Referring specifically to the controversy that had been raging since the end of September about the provision of IT courses at Mcast, he said that the way things had unfolded showed that if the adjudication board had followed the Code of Ethics there would have been objections regarding three members of the same board. The appeals board had remarked that the work of the adjudicating board was very amateurish and it had no clear criteria on adjudication.

Mr Bartolo said that when the contracts committee suggested that only one of the five tenderers qualified, the adjudicating board had submitted a second report. The chairman of the adjudicating board had also ordered the destruction of the first report. These were efforts to hide abuses which were committed. The members of the Board did not verify whether or not all tenderers satisified the operating conditions of the tender. Mr Bartolo called on the Mcast principal to see that such a situation would not recur, and hoped that problems regarding the IT curriculum at foundation level would be solved.

Mr Bartolo said he did not agree that the tender be awarded to the five tenderers when two of them were to face criminal charges. He tabled a letter he had received from the Assistant Commissioner of Police on the matter. Copies of this letter were also sent to the Education Permanent Secretary and to the Director of Contracts. He also requested a copy of the investigations held by the police. Mr Bartolo said that administrative negligence had been committed. The government should not use the students to give contracts to certain persons who used the services of a lawyer who had also been a Nationalist electoral candidate.

The Labour spokesman on education also dealt with the university's role in research on development projects. He said this called for the necessary financial support and augured that €4 million due to the university last April would be handed over before the end of the year. Nothing had yet been done to encourage the university to look for other sources of financial support. He also requested information on how the government was to finance the new collective agreement for university staff, which had not yet been concluded.

On the Institute of Tourism Studies, Mr Bartolo said that the present campus could not be developed further and a decision had to be taken on whether to develop the Martin Luther King complex for such a purpose. He said that the number of students attending the ITS Gozo centre was very small.

He also dealt with the education reform regarding the transition from the primary to the secondary sector. The proposals were beneficial, but had to be supported if they were to succeed. It was also necessary to focus on the whole education sector, starting with child care and kindergarten centres where the children were to be stimulated for learning. Personnel had to be given the right training in order to provide quality education.

As regards primary education Mr Bartolo said that problems would not be solved by removing streaming. There were problems during the first four years of primary education, which were not streamed. Resources and financial support were needed to arrive at quality education which also challenged pupils to learn.

The Labour spokesman also called on church schools to participate in the education reform to avoid difficulties in moving the reform forward in state schools. He said that this was needed especially from boys' Church schools, adding that the expert giving advice to Church schools had emphasised that the comprehensive system could only succeed through the participation of all.

Earlier, Noel Farrugia (PL) spoke on the sustainable quality of life which the government always boasted about. The opposition had continuously criticised the government for spending money on reports which were eventually shelved or did not produce desired results.

He said the government had invested €14 million on a new incinerator at the abattoir which later had to be extended to make it viable and enable the government to keep up with maintenance costs.

Mr Farrugia said animal fats could be treated less expensively to produce bio-diesel, adding that the government was incapable of producing means of alternative energy.

He accused the government of bad financial management and administration because the deficit loomed large. Despite promises, the accrual accounts system had never been introduced.

Referring to the Għadira project, Mr Farrugia said the government was planning to destroy more agricultural land. Development was needed, but it should not be at the expense of many to benefit a small number of persons.

The government had built the Mtarfa Bypass on clay on a ridge, with the result that the road caved in after every heavy rainfall. Challenging the government to appoint an independent commission to conduct a fact-finding mission on the matter, Mr Farrugia said that this also showed that the government lacked accountability.

The government had claimed it spent €200,000 on valleys. He referred to Chadwick Lakes and said that it was Labour governments which had safeguarded valleys. The 1996 Labour government had started a project to protect the aquifier under the lakes but this had been discontinued by Nationalist governments.

Mr Farrugia concluded by stressing that it was important that the hydrological system be protected and rehabilitated.