The Education Ministry has been forced to issue an external call for employees to act as supervisors on board the planned free school transport service, the Times of Malta has learnt.

This means that the role is now open to anyone who is willing to supervise schoolchildren to and from school against remuneration of €11.39 per trip.

Sources said that rather than payment being an issue, the teachers and learning support staff were not willing to do something that they felt was not their role.

Moreover, there was the problem that teachers would end up stranded without their private cars being in the vicinity.

A spokeswoman for the Education Minister confirmed that it had issued an external call for on-board supervisors after one was first issued internally.

According to the original consultation document issued by the ministry last year, supervision services were first to be offered to existing and retired educators.

Supervisors will be responsible for keeping attendance records, maintaining order and reporting any incidents to the respective school.

They must ensure that students remain seated, fasten their seat belts, do not lean out of the windows, do not distract the drivers and are picked up and dropped off at the designated stops.

Read: €24 million school transport proposals would increase use by 60%

The government was pay to for the transport supervision services directly to teaching grades within State schools and to reimburse the Church and independent schools for transport supervision in the case of non-State schools.

The spokeswoman was contacted after several parents asked what was happening with the free transport pledge and whether they needed to book the transport themselves over the summer months.

However, the Education Ministry spokeswoman said no information was yet available, as negotiations with the operators were still under way.

“The ministry acknowledges that parents are requesting information, and we have posted updates on what information is available at this stage on our social media. Over the past four weeks, the ministry has led a negotiation procedure, as per public procurement regulations, with economic operators over the free transport scheme,” the spokeswoman said.

“These negotiations are currently under way. Once they are concluded, all the information about this initiative will be made available,” she added.

It seems that children attending State schools will continue using the service without having to pay.

Parents sending their children to non-State schools will pay for the transport service and then receive a full refund. The refund will cover the rate agreed upon with the accredited transport providers.

According to the consultation document, an absence threshold will be put in place, giving students a specific number of days that they are permitted to be absent from school.