Parents will be refunded the fees given to school transport operators for the upcoming scholastic year, The Malta Independent can reveal.

The measure to see free public transport provided to all non-state school students, which formed part of the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto and included in this year’s budget, (expected to cost €10 million per year) was projected to begin at the start of the upcoming scholastic year.

However, the newsroom has been told that Coop Services has begun telephoning parents to inform them that they will be paying the school transport fee with the government expected to refund the payment later in the year. No clear indication was given as to exactly when this will take place.

The Ministry for Education, who is overseeing the project, has long advocated a ‘minimum intervention’ model, which would retain the current transport systems across all schools and introduce a refund mechanism where the government would pay for the service being provided. 

With less than a month before the scholastic year begins, the newsroom approached Education Minister Evarist Bartolo who indicated that such a process will be implemented; however, negotiations were at its final stages. He also stressed on multiple occasions the complexity in efficiently implementing the service to non-state schools.

“People think that it is easy to come to an agreement, we are using public funds and we are introducing a system we want to work.

“School transport is not a homogeneous reality. Non-state schools have implemented different transport systems according to their own needs,” Bartolo said revealing that the ministry has held some 60 meetings with operators.

Emphasising an ‘evidence-based approach’, Bartolo said that the government will be studying the initiative over the year in order to ensure that policy will be more realistic and effective in the future.

The newsroom was also informed that Coop had also increased its prices from 200 euro to 220 euro per child per term, something which the Minister described as normal increase which happens every year.