With a call for private training providers caught up in legal wrangling, the education minister and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology yesterday assured students who have not yet started their courses that they would be called to their studies as soon as possible and they would be given the same number of teaching hours at the same level as other students who have already started their course.

The delay, a Department of Information statement said, was not attributable to the MCAST authorities but to procedures which had to be followed in public contracts, and laws that have to be observed.

The number of students who applied for ICT courses at MCAST was higher than could be accommodated and for them to be accepted for their studies the need arose, as it did last year, to call for teachers. The call was made on 26 August for companies to bid to run the courses: MCAST Foundation Certificate in Computing; MCAST/BTEC First Diploma for IT Practitioners; and the MCAST/BTEC National Diploma in Computing. Various companies made a bid.

The bid was followed by an appeal by a contractor who also filed an application in court. Matters were further complicated with a call by MP Evarist Bartolo on the police commissioner to investigate the process. Both the investigation and the court case are pending.

The education ministry expressed regret at the delay but gave an assurance that courses would start as soon as the legal procedures were over. The matter has been explained to the students by the MCAST principal, the DOI said.