(Adds government statement)

The Nationalist Party has welcomed a decision by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo to set up more boards to assess children with special educational needs or disabilities who may need a learning support assistant (LSA).

However the party pointed out that the current waiting list of some 800 children was the result of Mr Bartolo's own decision to abolish one of the boards soon after the last general election.

PN education spokesman George Pullicino said some children had been waiting for more than nine months to be seen by a Statementing Board.

While in Opposition, Mr Bartolo used to say that 'Children cannot wait' even though the waiting list at the time had been far shorter.

But on election, instead of adding resources so that cases could be examined faster, he had actually reduced them. Now he was boasting of adding resources, the resources he had himself reduced.

In a reply this afternoon, the ministry said the second statementing panel was set-up on February 1, 2012 but was removed by December 15 of that year, in spite of the waiting list reaching 1,173.

This decision as let down countless students and families and this government has worked hard to alleviate problems which resulted from that poor decision making, it said.

"It is this ministry that will be reinstating the second panel to quicken the process. One hopes that the Opposition spokesman checks his facts before dishing out such partisan nonsense.

"The Opposition's education Spokesman should also consult with his colleagues as his calls for a quicker process for recruitment of LSAs is in direct contrast with the Opposition's call to reduce and limit the recruitment of public officers.

"Irrespective of what the Opposition's actual position is, this government is committed to support students and their families and continue investing in the provision of an LSA for those in need," it said.