Parents of children attending Church schools are the latest group to speak out against new rules allowing the Education Minister to access personal information of students for research purposes.
The legal notice giving such authority to the minister will be on Parliament’s agenda on Monday after the Opposition filed a motion demanding the authorisation be withdrawn and accusing the government of trying to snoop on students.
The University Students’ Council has also questioned the intentions behind such a move and data protection lawyer Antonio Ghio expressed deep reservations and raised doubts about its legality.
In a statement yesterday, the Association of Parents of Children in Church Schools said it was “gravely concerned” that the legal notice would give the Education Minister wide powers to access personal and very sensitive data.
In particular, it referred to the term “research purposes” – saying this was not well defined and could thus lead to wide interpretation.
The parents also pointed out that, contrary to normal practice, the legal notice did not oblige the minister to seek their consent to access information and that there was no possibility to opt out.
Other concerns raised by the association were about the lack of safeguards and ethical considerations to prevent any possible abuse.
They argued that statistical research did not necessarily require the use of personally identifiable data.
The association remarked that a proviso laying down that those not complying could be found guilty of an offence could potentially violate the right of privacy and the autonomy of Church schools.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said he was willing to discuss the issue with the minister, expressing himself against any move to store students’ data.
Dr Busuttil was speaking to representatives of student organisations at the party headquarters in Pietà. He said the PN was keen to forge a close relationship with student movements.
The PN’s Equal Opportunities Movement said the legal notice was in breach of an EU directive demanding that any such information required the parents’ consent. It felt that the move was just an excuse for the government to be able to spy on students.