MCAST examiners have been caught falsifying assignment grades in the course for laboratory technicians leading to a Business & Technology Education Council Certificate, yet the education ministry has taken no action against them.
MaltaToday can reveal that the administration at MCAST’s Applied Sciences course mailed bogus final assignment results to students, set at higher grades than what they had actually been given by their lecturers at the end of the 2006-07 scholastic year.
Some students, who had failed to hand in their assignments, still received a grade of Distinction for work they had never actually done.
Education Minister Dolores Cristina yesterday confirmed that she knew about the scandal and that an investigation had been carried out, but no steps were taken against the culprits.
Reporting the matter to MCAST were students themselves, who had already known their true grade, as communicated to them by lecturers throughout the year. But the results sent to them at home were the official results by which BTEC, the international awarding body, would have to abide in order to issue the National Diploma at the end of the course.
Simultaneously, students attending the diploma course for Pharmacy Technicians within the same institute have also had their final annual examination results doctored by MCAST officials. Every Pharmacy Technician student’s result that year featured higher grades than those assigned by their lecturers, while the order of merit was maintained.
Sources have confirmed that when, in 2006, both courses were moved from the Institute of Business and Commerce (IBAC) at MCAST to the Institute of Community Services (ICS), not all paperwork reached the ICS in the process of handover.
“Such paperwork included original assignments of the Laboratory Technicians’ course, which MCAST is obliged to keep to comply with international BTEC regulations. I have no idea where these assignments have ended up, but if MCAST lost them, I can only assume why these results could have been doctored. However, I cannot understand why Pharmacy Technician students were given higher grades. I’m at a loss there,” an MCAST source told Malta Today on condition of anonymity.
When a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education was confronted on the issue, an email reply read: “In July of this year, the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport received an email from a student with regard to this matter. The student referred to results of assignments carried out during 2006/2007. The Ministry took up the issue with MCAST Management whereby it resulted that an internal inquiry was already underway and the related investigation was about to be concluded.”
But apparently, members of this board of inquiry included some of the same education officials accountable for the blunder, and reports reaching this newspaper can confirm that conclusions were far from being reached by the time the minister was officially informed.
Various sources have told this newspaper that the minister was informed before July this year, and that she was aware of the ongoing internal investigation.
While the minister herself did not deny this, she said: “July this year is the first date I could track, as that was when I received an email from a student. Yes, I have also been approached by lecturers on the matter, but I don’t remember the dates.”
But around a year before the minister was “officially informed”, complaints were reaching MCAST deputy principal Anthony Saliba, who was new to the job at MCAST after his contract as headmaster of St Edward’s College had not been renewed.
The ministry spokesperson said that when Saliba received this news, “action was taken by the central administration. All students, lecturers and institute personnel involved were interviewed.”
MCAST sources corroborated with this but said that lecturers were called in as long as six months after the incident was reported, in December 2007, while students were called in around May 2008.
“It became evident to the management that the situation required further investigation,” the ministry official continued. “At this stage the students were called in for a meeting during which they were informed that a Board of Inquiry, independent of the Institute, would be set up by MCAST to look into the matter. Simultaneously Edexcel, the UK (BTEC) awarding body of the Diploma, was informed of the situation.
“In the course of their investigation, the Board of Inquiry consulted all the students, the members of staff concerned and the institute’s management. The student’s concerns were taken into careful consideration. The students were not only given time to present their case before the Board but were also asked to appear before the Board so as to be informed of what was being done in their interest,” he said.
The matter was partly resolved as the students’ final marks were based on mark sheets signed by the assessors themselves. These marks were communicated to the students who were given a clear explanation of the procedures adopted. Shortly afterwards the marks were also sent to Edexcel and these were approved.
But when the ministry official was asked to indicate whether or not BTEC assignments had been lost, and to provide a reason as to why students were initially awarded better grades, he opted sidestep the questions.
More seriously, the ministry chose to remain silent when confronted with questions related to the blanket promotion of marks awarded to Pharmacy Technician annual exam students. Unlike the situation with the BTEC blunder, these students are still unaware that their annual exam grades have been doctored.
When the ministry official was pushed for more detailed answers yesterday, this newspaper’s complaint reached Cristina herself, who in turn called this newspaper to protest about the short notice given for the questions to be answered.
“Please appreciate that I do not have all the details, and that I have to chase MCAST officials who are not always accessible on Saturdays,” she said, clearly agitated. “We have been chasing people for the past five hours to answer your questions. You should have got through the MCAST principal directly, not me. Alternatively, next time please do not give me a same-day deadline on the weekend. As far as I’m concerned, MCAST has a board and it is up to that board to tackle these matters.”

ddarmanin@mediatoday.com.mt