A student has set up an online petition calling on the Matsec board to return his final art examination pieces instead of destroying them.

Isaac Warrington sat for his A level exam at the end of May and, when the three hours were up, he asked if he could take a photo of his final piece.

When his request was declined, he contacted Matsec to enquire whether he could at least collect the final pieces of two, three-hour exam sessions once the results were out.

However, Mr Warrington was told in an e-mail that, according to Matsec’s procedure, work done under examination conditions could not be returned to the candidate and could not be photographed.

When he enquired in person, he was told that the work was kept for a while, then “destroyed”.

Destroying a piece of work that he had just spent three weeks preparing for did not make sense to the young student. He believes the work should at least be donated to charity.

So Mr Warrington set up an online petition urging art students to join his call on Matsec to return the works of art to those who sat for the exam.

“If you are an art student you feel my pain. If we are not allowed to collect our work or photograph it, at least provide a valid answer behind the reasoning, rather than simply say it is protocol,” his petition urges.

The petition addressed to art students was also welcomed by social media users who did not sit the exam. By the time this newspaper went to print, he had collected more than 600 online signatures.

When contacted, a University of Malta spokeswoman reiterated that it was Matsec procedure not to return the work to the candidates.