A number of students at MCAST may not be able to graduate at the end of their course because examiners are following union directives, the Commissioner for Education said.

He pointed out that examiners were not passing on to the college’s administration details required to enable proper assessment and verification before graduation.

Putting pressure to conclude a collective agreement was legitimate, the Commissioner said, but that pressure must be reasonable.

If it affects third parties solely and in a negative and disproportionate manner, this is tantamount to abuse, the Commissioner added.

Expressing “grave concern”, the Ombudsman’s Office stressed it was highly unfair that some students may miss out on their graduation due to union directives.

“For students, graduation day is a once-in-a-lifetime event which an entire cohort shares together. It is therefore highly unfair that some students risk being left out of the respective graduation solely because of union directives.”

The Commissioner for Education urged all parties to reach an agreement, at least on the question of exam details required for graduation purposes and again urged the parties involved to make every effort to reach a global agreement on all pending issues through genuine and constructive negotiations.