The Malta Union of Teachers has instructed school counsellors to refrain from offering services to students where the proper facilities are lacking or the student/counsellor ratio was higher than 1,400:1.

The union said it issued the directive in view of the fact that the workload of school counsellors increased drastically after the new college system was introduced in state schools.

It said conditions had become unacceptable for counsellors and students alike, adding that the college system was sacrificing quality for quantity.

The US and the EU had an average student to counsellor ratio ranging between 1,250 to 1 and 400 to 1, the union said.

When contacted, an Education Ministry spokesman refuted the union's claims, saying he could not understand why the directive had been issued and insisting that the student to counsellor ratio was in reality closer to 150 to 1.

"We employed 10 new trainee counsellors, 10 career advisors, 10 trainee educational psychologists and three psychotherapists bet-ween September and December. These work along with the 106 guidance teachers who are already in place."

The MUT is also considering taking industrial action after it said the government failed to meet its deadline on an investigation into the payments system.

The issue is related to MUT complaints about discrepancies in teachers' allowances and sectoral agreements when compared to those for other civil employees.