APPENDIX B: SUMMARIES OF SELECTED CASES J. MINISTRY OF CHILDREN AND EDUCATION The following case concluded in 2012 was selected for publication in the Annual Report: 2012-9. Exclusion from basic training course at technical college A technical college had excluded a student from a basic training course which was part of a training programme in web integration on the grounds that his qualifications were so poor that the college did not think that it would be possible for him to complete the training. The Ministry of Children and Education wrote to the student that the college’s decision was well-founded. The Ministry did not find that this was a decision but merely a statement intended as a guide. The Ombudsman maintained that the Ministry had made a decision and that the Ministry’s failure to realise this was regrettable. The Ministry was of the opinion that the legal basis for excluding the student was the legal principle that ‘no one is obliged to achieve the impossible’. The Ombudsman stated that the legal principle referred to by the Ministry could not be used as a legal basis for excluding a student from lessons. As there was also no legal basis for excluding a student from lessons because of the student’s qualifications, the Ombudsman recommended that the Ministry reopen the case, if the student so wished. Finally, the Ombudsman stated that the Ministry should not in a statement intended as a guide comment specifically on the legitimacy of a decision made by a college. 107