The government would not say how many students were still waiting for a seat on minibuses within the free school transport scheme rolled out at the start of the scholastic year.

Replying to questions by the Times of Malta on Thursday, the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organisations Clifton Grima, who forms part of the Education Ministry, would not say how many children remain on the list.

Pressed to say whether the figure last supplied to the public – 829 – had gone down, Dr Grima insisted that once new operators came forward the numbers would surely be slashed. When asked whether that meant the number of students awaiting a vacant seat was unchanged from two weeks ago, he reiterated that additional operators would bring the numbers down.

A spokeswoman for the Education Ministry said recently an updated list of students would be published “in the coming days” but no such list was available at the time of writing, despite regular reminders.

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said last week that pick-up times considered to be “unrealistic” would not be tolerated, urging parents to come forward with their complaints so the issue would be addressed.

Since signing an agreement with the government ahead of the new scholastic year, the operators insisted they did not have any spare seats, with some lamenting they were also struggling to find drivers.

They told the Times of Malta earlier this week that, though providing them with a constant stream of work, the scheme should have been better planned.

Meanwhile, parents who did not sign their children up for the free transport scheme have been complaining that not only was finding an available place difficult but the prices had increased significantly as a result of the agreement between the operators and the government.