Updated - A parliamentary motion to repeal a legal notice authorising the Education Minister to request data on students from educational institutions will be debated on Monday.

The date was set after agreement this evening between the government and the opposition.

The motion was filed this morning by Opposition education spokesman Joe Cassar and MPs Claudette Buttigieg and Paula Mifsud Bonnici.

Shadow Minister for Education Joe Cassar questioned the reason why the legal notice obliged these institutions to provide the ID card numbers of students, saying that such information has no relevance for statistical purposes.

While confirming the story carried by Times of Malta that Data Commissioner Joe Ebejer was consulted before the end of his term which expired last February, Dr Cassar said that Mr Ebejer had never seen the legal notice and was not told that this would be published under the ETC Act.

He said the opposition is also asking the government to table in Parliament the written advice given by the Data Commissioner.

It is also arguing that instead of this legal notice, there should have been a subsidiary legislation under the Data Protection Act to ensure that all privacy issues were addressed.

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo this morning told timesofmalta.com that the governemnt was prepared to discuss the matter with the opposition.

Reacting, Dr Cassar said the opposition was willing to meet the minister to discuss the concerns, but such consultation should have been carried out before the legal notice was published.

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