The Association of Parents of Children in Church Schools has presented the Data Protection Commissioner with a letter of complaint signed by over 2,000 parents against the controversial legal notice authorising the Education Minister to request data on students.

Legal notice 76, which has been put on hold, would enable the minister to collect data relating to students from educational institutions, including identity card numbers, for the purposes of research and to help vulnerable children.

The ministry had said the regulations would provide for adequate advice to be given on employment prospects and to prepare plans for their training pursuant to the provisions of the Act.

“This personal data shall be transferred, processed and stored without the parents’ explicit and informed consent,” the APCCS said in a statement. “It is strongly believed that this overrides parental authority.”

In April, the Opposition had filed a parliamentary motion to repeal the law.

PN education spokesman Joe Cassar said that the education authorities already had the tools to seek information for research purposes and to advise students on employment, without the need for personal details being given to the minister.

The Data Protection Commissioner had subsequently set up a working group to analyse the implications of a legal notice allowing the minister to seek information on students.