Education Minister Evarist Bartolo yesterday challenged Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil to repeat that he had personally ordered the removal of stipends for sixth form O level students, so that the minister could sue him for slander.

Answering a series of questions in Parliament, Mr Bartolo had earlier said he would be suing the Nationalist media for libel over “this outright lie”. Earlier this month, the Education Ministry said the circular on stipends issued in two sixth form schools was unauthorised. An investigation was launched and the report is now ready.

The minister also answered a number of questions on the Malta Sports Council (Kunsill tal-iSport Malti). The acronym KSM, he said, ought to be translated as “Kenn għas-Segretarji tal-Ministri” (“Refuge for Ministers’ Secretaries” because many members of former ministers’ secretariats had opted to be transferred to the council to find sanctuary before their party lost the general election.

It was not true that these people loved sports; otherwise they would not have left it to the eve of the election to ask to be transferred to the KSM.

Mr Barolo said it was the Government’s intention to increase sports activities in schools to address the problem of obesity. He announced that the weight of all schoolchildren is to be recorded in a bid to know where the obesity problem was most prevalent and which areas had to be tackled.