Education minister shedding responsibility – PN

The Nationalist Party has accused Education Minister, Evarist Bartolo, of shedding the responsibility brought on by the Skola Sajf ‘fiasco’, and of placing the blame at the feet of civil servants.

SKola Sajf opened a week later than expected due to a shortfall in the required number of teachers.

In a statement issued this afternoon, the PN said that Bartolo knew of the problems which the summer programme faced “three weeks in advance” but chose not to act.

Furthermore, the PN said that the board - which was set up to investigate the controversy – was only serving to “cover up” the minister’s misjudgment.

“This is not the first time that Bartolo has gone down this road,” the statement read. “He had already done this last October when he blamed public workers for the decision to stop handing out stipends to students studying for their Ordinarily Level examinations at post-secondary schools.”