The Opposition with tomorrow present a motion in Parliament to repeal a legal notice which would enable the Minister of Education to ask for and be given personal information about all pupils following education in Malta, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said today.

"What does he need this personal information for? Why should a government minister have this information? Is this a case of Big Brother wanting to spy on others and wanting to know everyone's personal details?" Dr Busuttil asked at a political conference.

See the legal notice on pdf below.

EDUCATION MINISTRY REACTION

In a reaction, the Ministry of Education said that since at least 2006, through Article 16 of the Education Act, it had the right to request data for all matters falling under its responsibility, including for research and quality assurance.

"Legal Notice 76 of 2014, similarly to Clause 16 of the Education Act, specifies that this will be used for the purpose of research and this legal notice, prior to its publication, was given the approval of the Commissioner for Information and Data Protection."

Clause 16. (1) says "Every Directorate may request, collect and verify any information, data and statistics, as may be required for the performance of its functions.

"(2) A Directorate shall have access to all information which another Directorate, the Colleges and schools may possess, and is entitled to request and obtain all data it may require from students, parents, personnel and from public and private educational institutions, and this data should be given to it within a reasonable time from the date of request.

"(3) Every Directorate shall have access to other statistics and data of an economic and social nature as required in order that it may perform its functions according to this Act."

The 2006 law showed that the Opposition Leader was incorrect in stating that for the first time, the Minister for Education could have children’s personal data, the ministry said.

It said it was not possible to have valid research and analysis without the data to compute it in the first place, especially since the Education Ministry was also responsible for quality assurance in state, church and private institutions.

"Furthermore in order to implement Jobs+ initiatives, something initiated in the previous legislature, the data needs to be collected as otherwise focus policies such as the Employability Index and the Youth Guarantee would not be possible."

The ministry said that in terms of the legal notice, the  data is to be used for research purposes and to provide for adequate advice to be given on students' employment prospects and training. 

PEOPLE USED AND THEN BETRAYED

In other comments, Dr Busuttil hit out at the government for having started the process of privatising Enemalta after having promised in the electoral programme not to do so. To add insult to injury, he said, the Enemalta workers were now being invited to start working for  Chinese company, or suffer a reduction of their working conditions.

This was but one example of how Labour used the people, then betrayed them, he said.

The prime minister and his government were repeatedly taking decisions without consulting anyone.

The classic case was the citizenship scheme. But this 'government that listens' had also ploughed ahead on its plans to berth a gas tanker in Marsaxlokk.

This week, the Education Minister decided to reintroduce streaming in schools. No consultation had been made, and the Faculty of Education was among the first to disagree with the decision and to lament the lack of consultation.

MEPA'S FREEPORT DECISION

Dr Busuttil said it was disgraceful that the government-appointed Mepa board had decided to grant Malta Freeport a year permit to repair oil rigs.

Now the prime minister was saying the governemnt would appeal the decision. Who did the prime minister think he was kidding?

Had a really been against the permit, he could have written to the Mepa board, in the same way he did about the gas tanker in Marsaxlokk.

Alas, for the prime minister, propaganda came before everything else. It was not a government which the people deserved It did not act responsibly.

Dr Busuttil said that the opposition had to show how it could conduct politics differently from  the government by being responsible and constructive. The PN, he said, would continue to renew itself and continue to meet the people and also discuss mistakes made in the past with a view of winning the people's confidence He welcomed the setting up of the Equal opportunities Forum and said more structures would be set up.

Dr Busuttil said the European Parliament elections would be very tough for the PN, coming just a year after it lost the general election with a 36,000 vote deficit. The recovery would take time, but progress was being made because the Opposition was showing itself to be honest, humble and responsible.

In his address Dr Busuttil also hit out at government appointments and for having launched personal attacks at him simply to detract attention from the country's problems.