The Nationalist Party has written to the Data Protection Commissioner Saviour Cachia urging him to investigate the Education Directorate’s request to certain parents for private information on their children.

The PN asked Mr Cachia to verify whether the collection of data is being done in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act.

Last week, a circular was sent to some parents requesting information on their children in what the directorate said is tied to the Good Shepherd Project 2014/2015.

The story was broken by The Malta Independent last week.

A number of parents who spoke to this newsroom expressed concern over the fact that they received a circular without any information whatsoever on what the project is all about, the directorate even quoting the wrong law at one point in the circular.

The Good Shepherd Project, which had initially -started in 1999 by then education minister Louis Galea - had been intended for the then ministry of education to inform itself on children aged over five years old which were not registered in a school.

Parents are questioning why the directorate, which falls under the remit of the education ministry, has requested such information directly from certain parents when it could have easily used Article 16 of the Education Act which gives such powers to the directorate.

Contacted for its side of the story, the ministry of education had insisted that the procedure for this project is the same one used since the year 2000.

One parent highlighted the fact that that the circular's content was written in a careless manner and quotes the wrong law.

The circular first makes reference to the Education Act 1988, Chapter 327 of the Laws of Malta, and then erroneously refers to the same Act as the Education Act 1998.

In its letter to the data commissioner, the PN argued that the directorate is directly asking parents for information on their children when it could have easily done so in full compliance through Article 16 of the Education Act.

The PN wrote: “Seeing that the standard practice would normally see the directorate obtain information directly from individual schools and colleges, the Education Act clearly imposes an obligation on the directorate to work in constant collaboration with schools.”

The PN said that it cannot understand why the directorate is asking for the consent of parents directly, through the circular sent to them, to provide personal data on their children, without parents being informed on the reason and purpose for the collection of data, which is creating doubts and giving rise to concern.

The only reason given by the directorate, as stated above, is that the collection of data is part of the Good Shepherd Project. Earlier this year, the government suspended a legal notice which seeks privacy data of children after it had been challenged in Parliament by the Opposition on April 14.

As soon as Mr Cachia, was appointed, the ministry sought his assistance on the controversial LN76.

In fact, this newsroom had interviewed Mr Cachia who had said that a ‘legal instrument’, which was being reviewed by his office, along with a working group set up by the Commissioner himself, could potentially supersede the much talked about Legal Notice 76.

The letter to Mr Cachia was signed by shadow education minister Joe Cassar, and PN MPs Paula Mifsud Bonnici and Claudette Buttigieg.