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Matthew Vella
The Archbishop’s delegate to the Catholic Education secretariat Fr Dominic Scerri has told MaltaToday the secretariat will investigate cases of illicit calls for donations at Church schools only on “substantiated complaints in writing,” despite acknowledging in writing that parents of children in Church schools had “remarked on instances of grave insistence in requesting donations as if these were simply fees.”
In comments given to MaltaToday, Scerri has denied ever receiving complaints of preferential donations aiding entry into Church schools after acknowledging in communications sent to Church schools, seen by this newspaper, the existence of irregularities in the system of free donations, and the irregular creation of school vacancies.
Scerri has skirted the issue of whether Church schools are in a position to admit students by asking for a fee instead of submitting them to Common Entrance criteria or the ballot waiting list, by increasing vacancies without notifying the Catholic Education secretariat. Scerri said that if this newspaper, “or anybody else for that matter, provide a substantiated complaint that one or more Church schools received donations ‘for the admittance of students by increasing vacancies’ and not notifying my secretariat, ‘ergo neither submitting children to Common Entrance criteria nor respecting ballot waiting lists’, these will be fully investigated.”
In a communiqué issued by Scerri to all heads of Church schools on 3 September, 2004, the Archbishop’s delegate confirmed there had been cases where specific payments were demanded for stationery, toilet facilities and even the changing of curtains in classrooms, as well as registration and examination fees.
Although Church school teachers are paid by the government, the schools are allowed to request free donations from parents for their upkeep. Whilst no specific sums can be asked from parents, requesting sums of money is in “flagrant infringement of the Holy See-Republic of Malta agreement on Church schools.”
Scerri has told MaltaToday he will only act upon complaints in writing, despite acknowledging in his communication “instances of grave insistence in requesting donations.”
The secretariat has skirted the issue about the existence of abuse in the unregulated collection of donations from parents, where no checks or balances apparently exist on the donations collected.
Scerri’s letter has proved the existence of instances in which either heads or staff members had “pointed out children in class reminding them that they did not hand over their donation, or even asking them to remind their parents to pay up. In a fair number of cases, there were even heads of school who called children to their office reprimanding them for failing to forward their donation to the school.”
Scerri told MaltaToday that if and when the secretariat “sees the need to speak to specific Heads of schools, this is done.”
According to official procedure, Church schools have to estimate the costs for projects, equipment and administrative expenses, and ask parents to share the total costs between them. In the letter, Scerri also suggests that “for reasons of accountability to parents,” an income and expenditure statement should be given to parents at the end of the scholastic year.
However, Scerri told MaltaToday that it will be up to the schools themselves to decide whether or not to take up the suggestions, suggesting that no enforcement will take place to make Church schools more accountable to parents.
Church schools react
Fr Dominic Scerri’s letters have confirmed that an unregulated world of solicited donations and possibly preferential entry into Church schools does actually exist. Apart from acknowledging the existence of schools which “demand strongly, as if by right, stipulated sums of money,” Scerri has also written of schools increasing vacancies without informing his secretariat.
In a seemingly euphemised statement, Scerri noted that “specific school initiatives,” referring to the creation of unpublicised vacancies at higher primary school levels, “had been harming the reputation of the Church in Malta, and of Church schools.”
Primary Church schools have to inform the secretariat of any vacancies which open at higher levels than that of entry. Children who do not secure a place by ballot, the system which governs the entry of children to the schools, are placed on a waiting list and are admitted into a Church school if any vacancies are available at a later stage.
In his communication, Scerri warned heads of primary schools that vacancies had to be notified to the secretariat, and that entry would only be conducted “by means of the ballot system.”
Earlier this week, several heads of secondary level Church schools participating in the common entrance examination, the exam which determines placements of students entering Church schools at secondary level, wrote to MaltaToday saying that students in Form One had been admitted according to their ranking in the exam and according to their parents’ choice, except in cases if grave humanitarian criteria.
The schools have denied ever receiving directly or indirectly any monetary gifts to “push Church secondary school entrants up the admission list.”
In previous reports, this newspaper reported that schools had increased vacancies at secondary level, sometimes by anything up to an entire classroom, without publicising their list of vacancies to admit students according to common entrance exam rankings.
MaltaToday has acknowledged in its articles that St Albert the Great College, St Aloysius College, St Augustine College, St Dominic Savio College, St Elias College, St Michael School, St Paul’s Missionary College, the Archbishop’s Seminary in Malta and Gozo and the Bishop’s Conservatory have publicised their list of vacancies as according to the regulations set by the Private Schools Association, confirming that students can only be admitted to these schools through the ranking achieved in the common entrance exam.
In 2005, 474 places will be made available for students to be admitted at Form One in these schools, including De La Salle College.
However, Scerri’s letter has confirmed there is no effective structure monitoring the increase in classroom numbers at primary or secondary levels - schools which do not inform his secretariat of any increases in vacancies, can freely admit students according to any criteria they wish, even at the behest of preferential donations.
Fr Dominic Scerri himself, has confirmed in a communiqué to the heads of primary Church schools seen by MaltaToday, that “it has been explicitly stated that children who were unsuccessful to secure a place in a Church school through the ballot system, managed to find a place the following year or years in higher classes than those of entry.” Scerri said places available at the level of entry had been increased by five up to a “whole class of boys” in years three, four or five.
In comments to MaltaToday, Scerri categorically stated that he never received complaints of schools receiving donations for the admittance of students when asked whether children had been admitted at higher primary levels through the payment of generous monetary gifts.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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