Recommendation not implemented: Commissioner upholds complaint over National Sports School admission assessment

Recommendation not implemented: Commissioner upholds complaint over National Sports School admission assessment

Published October 19, 2026

The complaint

The Commissioner for Education investigated a complaint submitted by the parents of an 11-year-old girl concerning her application for admission to the National Sports School under the swimming discipline.

The student was ranked third among the applicants for swimming. As only two places were available, she was placed on the waiting list. Her academic results were well above the published entry requirements, with marks exceeding 90% in Mathematics and 80% in Maltese and English. The determining factor in the admission process was therefore her performance in the fitness assessment.

The complaint was communicated to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry responsible for Education on 1 September 2026, with a request for the Ministry’s views because of the time sensitive nature of the case. No reply was received by the time the Commissioner had concluded his investigation.

Facts and findings

When the parents requested a breakdown of the fitness assessment, they discovered that their daughter had obtained a low mark in the 25 metre all out swim. Her recorded time was fractionally slower than those of the other two swimmers. The times had been recorded manually using handheld chronographs.

The Commissioner noted that the 25-metre swim was not intended to be a race between the three applicants but a test of each swimmer’s speed and fitness. However, the girl concerned had been timed while swimming not with the other two applicants but with applicants from other disciplines, whereas the other two applicants had swum together.

The Commissioner found that no credible explanation had been provided for this difference in the way the assessment was conducted. He considered that swimming together in a time trial could affect performance and would also have allowed those present to visually compare all three swimmers. The investigation further noted that official national 50 metre freestyle timings placed the complainants’ daughter ahead of the two other applicants for the swimming discipline.

Although the Education Authorities had argued that the overall fitness result was based on four separate components and not solely on the 25-metre sprint, the Commissioner concluded that an undue advantage or disadvantage in one component affected the fairness and validity of the overall assessment.

Conclusions and recommendations

The Commissioner allowed the complaint.

He concluded that the decision to time the complainants’ daughter separately from the other two applicants in the swimming discipline was unreasonable, unjust and improperly discriminatory within the meaning of Article 22(1)(b) of the Ombudsman Act.

In considering an appropriate remedy, the Commissioner also took into account that the two successful applicants had already been accepted by the National Sports School and should not suffer prejudice through no fault of their own.

He therefore recommended that, exceptionally and in view of the undue disadvantage suffered during the assessment, the complainants’ daughter should also be admitted to the National Sports School for the 2026/2027 scholastic year.

Outcome

On 25 September 2026, since the Ministry for Education had not complied with the Commissioner’s recommendation, the case was referred to the Prime Minister in terms of Articles 17C(1) and 22(4) of the Ombudsman Act.

As no action was taken following the referral to the Prime Minister, on 13 October 2026 the report was transmitted to the House of Representatives in terms of Article 22(4) of the Ombudsman Act.