Opposition spokesman for education Joe Cassar told Parliament on Monday that the government was wrong to have planned to deny stipends for several students.

Dr Cassar said that a memorandum was issued and stipends to several students stopped. When the Opposition said that many mature students and those who received supplementary assistance would not receive their stipends, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said that one did not need to worry.

The PN speaker recalled that when he pointed out the fact that the stipend changes were being made under an old legal notice, which was amended in 2012, students were informed by the University that they would receive their stipends.

Earlier, Dr Cassar said that the government did not have a roadmap, so it was expecting people to provide it with amendments to the Education Act. Having asked the minister whether he had consulted college principals on the necessary reforms, Dr Bartolo had answered that whoever had any suggestions should come forward.

The minister should have prepared a White Paper that should have been discussed in stages. “If the government did not have a basis on which to hold discussions, how could it ask the House to approve the Budget?”

Dr Cassar recalled that when he asked the minister how many schools would take part in the tablets pilot study, Mr Bartolo said the number of tablets would depend on suppliers and the choice of schools participating in the project depended on how many teachers applied. This showed that the government issued an expression of interest without knowing what the pilot study was about.

The Research Department was still without senior principals and there was still no Director for Curriculum. This was why there was so much mismanagement in the Education Department. Technocrats had their employment ended and there was now chaos.

Dr Cassar insisted education was not in crisis, as the minister had suggested. However, the Ministry for Education was.

The minister should not alarm people when he himself had caused the crisis by dismantling his departments.

He said the government had fooled the people, as it did not even have the decency to formulate a roadmap.

This was the reason why the Opposition could not approve the financial estimates.