The Nationalist Party said today that it gave a voice to Church and independent schools within the Institute for Education thanks to amendments to a legal notice it moved in Parliament earlier this week.

Nationalist MP George Pullicino, who piloted the amendments, said the government had originally decided that Church and independent schools would share one representative on the board of the institute. The Opposition had argued that this was not good enough since the two were different.  

When the Opposition moved its amendment, the government changed its position and voted in favour. 

The Opposition regretted, however, that the government had rejected another amendment for the institute's board to also have a representative nominated by the Leader of the opposition. The idea was that education would not be a political football and there would be continuity between administrations, Mr Pullicino said. 

Unfortunately, the government rejected this collaboration, he added.