Court clears college, 17 years after favouritism complaint

One of Malta’s longest-established Catholic colleges has been definitively cleared of favouritism in the admission of Sixth Form students, after a court of appeal upheld a first court’s sentence.

The De La Salle Sixth Form had been absolved in 2011 of maliciously discriminating between students chosen to pursue their post-secondary education at the college more than 15 years ago, when it refused to admit student Michael Azzopardi for its two-year post-secondary course between 1994 and 1996, when 70 students had been admitted in that intake.

Azzopardi had attended Stella Maris College primary school and then continued his studies at De La Salle secondary school.

After having been refused entry at De La Salle, he attended sixth form at another college but dropped out after the first year and continued his studies privately.

In September 1997, his parents, Jean-Pierre and Iliana, instituted a civil court case against the college claiming that their son had been “maliciously” refused entry to the sixth form because it favoured students with fewer qualifications.

They claimed that the college had given preference to other students over their son and called on the court to compensate them, alleging that the college gave preference to one specific student, George Dunbar-Cousin, who had been admitted to the college despite not having a pass in Maltese at O-level.

Maltese, the court noted, was not a prerequisite to be admitted to the college and Dunbar-Cousin had nine O-levels when Azzopardi had seven.

In its decision, the appeals court said that independently of the action, it saw no connection between the alleged injustice suffered by the Azzopardis, with the fact that their son had ultimately received a private education they paid for.

“It cannot be proven that he would not have done that anyway had he been allowed to attend the college sixth form. The court cannot understand why the plaintiffs persisted in their allegations and demands, appealing the court sentence which has absolutely nothing censurable.”