A lack of planning, monitoring and oversight by the Foundation of Educational Services led to July’s Skolasajf fiasco, which forced the Education Ministry to postpone its opening by several days.

These conclusions emerge from a damning report, published yesterday, that was drawn up by a board of inquiry.

The ministry said it would be evaluating the report and taking action to avoid a repeat.

Skolasajf and Klabb 3-16, the government’s summer school service, had been due to start on Monday, July 7, but had to be postponed when it turned out it was not ready to take in children.

Among the major problems was understaffing. The sudden postponement had fuelled a barrage of criticism, especially from working parents.

It was only two days before Skolasajf started that the CEO admitted he had a ‘minor problem’ – he was 220 teaching staff short

The board of inquiry found the severe organisational shortcomings were so blatant it was “a disaster waiting to happen”.

Just days before the scheduled start, there was total chaos and organisational breakdown, and the ministry had no other option but to postpone the opening, the report said.

Skolasajf and Klabb 3-16 had been due to start on Monday, July 7, but had to be postponed when it turned out it was not ready to take in children. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

It blamed foundation CEO Roderick Agius, saying his position was no longer tenable as he had lost all moral authority, both with staff and stakeholders.

Mr Agius had “underestimated” the gravity of the problems he faced and “misled” his board by saying the situation was under control.

However, the report also noted that the other board members had to assume “joint administrative responsibility” as they should have sought verification with external sources rather than rely exclusively on the CEO’s assurances.

‘Overhaul education foundation’

The decision to shift the responsibility of Skolasajf from the Directorate of Educational Services to FES had been communicated to all those involved by the permanent secretary last November.

However, very little work had been done in the months that followed as both entities took a very passive attitude, the board of inquiry said.

There was no evidence of an implementation plan which specified roles, methods and timeframes.

The board blamed FES for underestimating the level of preparation required, even though it was clear that the number of children attending was set to spike. Cabinet had agreed in April that the number of centres would increase from 30 to 63.

By May 28, it had already been established that the number of children would be nearly double the previous year’s, as applications exceeded 11,000. Until a few days before the start of Skolasajf, Mr Agius had given his reassurance that everything was “on track” except for some “teething problems”.

The same assurances were given even in the wake of concerns raised by the Malta Union of Teachers, which on June 19 complained about a shortage of staff members.

A number of board members had already submitted their resignation

“It was only on the morning of Saturday, July 5, when the CEO admitted he had a ‘minor problem’ – a lack of 220 play workers to take care of the children,” the report said.

In its conclusions, the report noted that following the incident, Mr Agius himself seemed to have acknowledged that he was to blame and asked to be transferred to a different role with an NGO. A number of board members had already submitted their resignation.

However, the report recommended an overhaul of FES and a rethinking of its objectives.

It also suggested the immediate appointment of a new CEO to start the necessary preparations for next year’s Skolasajf and have everything in place by March 2015.

Inquiry’s main findings

On July 15, a board of inquiry chaired by Paul Bonello was appointed by the Education Ministry to look into the administrative failures of Skolasajf. These are among the findings:

• The ministry’s permanent secretary failed to give specific time frames and milestones when he informed FES in November that it was to take over Skolasajf.

• Cabinet had formally agreed to increase Skolasajf hours and centres on April 15, but this had no bearing on the organisational shortcomings.

• No evidence of an implementation plan assigning specific roles and time frames was found.

• Days before Skolasajf opened, heads of schools were not informed of the number of children attending and were not in a position to brief parents.

• Interviews for play-workers only started in late June and there was no time to give them sufficient training.

• FES CEO Roderick Agius was to blame for lack of planning and his position was no longer tenable, though he was not perceived to have acted in bad faith.

• The director general of the Directorate for Educational Services should assume a degree of responsibility as she showed no interest and took a passive approach.