The legal notice authorising the Education Minister to request data on students from educational institutions might be in breach of EU directives, Malta’s own Data Protection Act and a 2004 Legal Notice, according to three PN MPs.

Addressing a press conference this morning, Shadow Minister for Education Joe Cassar said that Education Minister has still not discussed the Legal Notice with the PN, despite comments Mr Bartolo appeared to have made in the media. The PN has presented a motion in Parliament, calling for the repeal of the Legal Notice, and will keep insisting on discussing it in Monday’s sitting.

Mr Cassar said that it was “unacceptable” for the Minister to request personal data on students and insisted that the Minister cannot be considered as a data controller.

The Legal Notice also did not specify what kind of research might be carried out with the requested data, but personal data on students is definitely not research. It will also invade the privacy of students, who are minors.

PN MP Claudette Buttigieg said that she is constantly asked for her consent by the school her daughter attends. “We receive permission requests for outings and other events and for whenever the media is going to be present at the school. The same rule should be applied with student data.”

Ms Buttigieg insisted that, “just because we trust the schools with the care of our children does not mean that our children become state property. Data should not be collected without the consent of the subject, or in this case, the parents.”

The PN MP, who spoke from a civil rights point-of-view, explained that the Legal Notice might be in breach of an EU Directive on data protection and the right to privacy.

Her thoughts were echoed by PN MP Paula Mifsud Bonnici, who said that the LN is also in breach of Malta’s Data Protection Act. “This law makes it amply clear that the data that can be requested by the Minister is personal.” Ms Mifsud Bonnici said that, according to the law, data may only be processed if it is in the subject’s legitimate interest and if it is given by consent. The government’s Legal Notice also goes against the spirit of another Legal Notice, LN 124 of 2004, which states that schools can only hand out information on students if it is in their interest and is given with consent.

“On the other hand, this latest Legal Notice has gives the Minister absolute power and has no safeguards.”

When asked what the PN would do should the PN’s motion be defeated, Mr Cassar said he hoped the government would realise the mistake it is making and “not steamroll” over the Opposition like it did on the citizenship issue. When pressed further and asked if the PN would be taking the government to court, Mr Cassar said that, for now, the PN is hoping that the Minister will “open his eyes and surprise everyone in Parliament next Monday.”