Students and lecturers at the Junior College are locked in a dispute over whether the names of absent lecturers should be made public.
For students, the notices published online and on monitors in the college foyer are an important service allowing them to plan around unexpectedly cancelled lectures; for educators, they are an unacceptable breach of data privacy.
The system, which has been in place for 10 years, was suspended by the college administration this week after an industrial dispute registered by the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT), prompting outrage among student organisations.
It is unacceptable that students from all courses can know which lecturers didn’t come in to work that day
“Not only is it not fair on the student,” political organisation Pulse said in a statement, “but it also means that students are using their time waiting for their lecturer rather than using it to study or take on extra-curricular activities, two things which students should be encouraged to do.
“Pulse understands that some students may fail to show up to subsequent lectures as is the case, however the student himself is already being penalised for it duly because if the individual fails to show up for a minimum number of lectures he or she is no longer entitled to the stipend.”
An online petition started by Studenti Demokristjani Maltin (SDM), calling for the teachers’ union to withdraw its objections, had attracted some 230 signatures as of yesterday.
MUT president Kevin Bonello told the Times of Malta that he considered the monitors a breach of data privacy, although he had no issue with students being informed of cancelled lectures.
“The problem is specifically with lecturers’ names being published on boards accessible to anyone,” he said. “It is unacceptable that students from all courses – as well as anyone who walks into the college – can know which lecturers didn’t come in to work that day.” Mr Bonello claimed that students had taken to uploading photos of the monitors to a public Facebook group along with comments ridiculing absent lecturers. The group settings have since been changed to private.
Mr Bonello suggested the administration should send individual messages to students affected by cancellations or publish the classes being cancelled without the names of the lecturers involved, as is the practice at the University of Malta.
The Junior College administration has said it had taken legal advice on the matter and believed it had a right to provide information to its students, but had nevertheless suspended the service, “with regret”, on the MUT’s insistence, and was now seeking alternatives.