MCAST regrets late start of ICT courses

B. Pollacco

Oct 29th 2009, 15:55

@Janice Buttigieg

yes you have a point there..i might have misunderstood your comment sry :)...

Janice Buttigieg

Oct 28th 2009, 21:51

@B. Pollacco
I did not blame the school. I was merely pointing out the fact that it was not only the MCAST students who were without IT & ICT teachers. However, what I do find objectionable is the fact that on the 21st of October i sent an email to the Ministry of Education asking when we can expect to have a teacher. To date all I have recieved is a computer generated aknowledgement that the message has been recieved.

B. Pollacco

Oct 28th 2009, 17:25

@Janice Buttigieg

I Do Not think Giovanni Curmi was expecting more than a 1000 students to attend this year.As you know they started a week late so it's unfair on blaming the school for not having the required number of staff.

M Borg

Oct 26th 2009, 21:13

When last year the same happened, Evarist Bartolo was blamed for everything that happened. This year Evarist has kept his mouth shut but the delay still happened even though the Ministry of Education and MCAST promised that the tender was going to be issued earlier this year. Who is going to shoulder the blame this year, since Evarist Bartolo did not give them that satisfaction? Will they blame the company suing MCAST in court even though it lost the appeal? When will we all know the whole truth of what happened and why? In the meantime hundreds of students are still waiting to start their academic studies.
Will the company holding the process be held liable for the damages being suffered?

Janice Buttigieg

Oct 26th 2009, 20:13

It is not only MCAST that has a shortage of teachers. My daughter is attending Giovanni Curmi, first year MC course as yet she has no IT teacher.

E. Sciberras

Oct 26th 2009, 17:46

@Christian...I understand of what you're saying as me and my ex-cadets have just experienced it at the Maritime Institute... The OIC Navigational Watch on the MCAST Prospectus was and now it 'is' still listed as a 3 years course(1 year full-time, 12 months ocean going experience, 1 year full-time) We finished the whole course this year, which is the 5th year..unbelievable? We went through hell running after them, and trying to finding solutions even regarding exams results. One day we had an appeal against the navigation result, which it turned out to be a misunderstanding. At school they told us that we didn't pass, When we signed a petition and send it to the concerned Authority and even to the Minister of Education and the Prime Minister so we'll get a reply...The first and only reply was from Dr.Lawrence Gonzi and only HE offered support to us.

Christian Camilleri

Oct 26th 2009, 13:03

Not Only ICT Courses!! There Is A Particular Course Part-66 Cat 'A' Licence In Aviation Maintenance which leads to jobs @ Lufthansa technik, and our Induction Course Was on 5th October 2009. After a few days only 1 class started lessons. Then After 3 weeks The Second Class Started Today !! And My Class Probabbly the one with students which have done O'Levels Last Year Have to wait Unitil 10 November 2009 To Start Our Lessons !! (At The Time We Start There Will Be Students Of Other Courses who would have already attended about 50 school days whilst we are on our 1st Day !! Its Not A joke !! )
THE BIG PROBLEM IS THAT IN OUR COURSE THERE IS A LACK OF LECTURERS FOR SOME PARTICULAR SUBJECTS AND CANNOT COPE WITH ALL CLASSES SIMULTANEOUSLY !!

Mike Mifsud

Oct 26th 2009, 12:44

Even last year these courses started late and the government blamed Hon Evarist Bartolo. Who is the government going to blame this year??? The blame rests on the gross inefficiency of the Ministry of Education for not issuing the tender on time - an exact repetition of last year. A mistake committed twice.

It is useless the Minister of Education says she regrets what happened. The Minister should have the courage to apologise to the hundreds of students concerned and their parents.