The personal records of hundreds of Melbourne high school students have been mistakenly published, sparking an investigation into an “appalling” privacy breach.

The Victoria education minister, James Merlino, said his department would launch an inquiry into the breach at Strathmore secondary college in the city’s north-west.

“It’s nothing short of appalling ... it’s distressing for students and their parents because it may result in embarrassment, in bullying,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “These things should not happen.”



Human error was believed to be the cause of the publication of more than 300 students’ records on the school’s intranet service which, according to News Corp reports, included information about medical and mental health conditions, medications, and learning and behavioural difficulties.



The records were accidentally published as late as Monday and remained online until Tuesday, the Herald Sun reported, with parents and students seeing the information.

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It listed conditions such as Asperger’s; autism, ADHD and medication including Ritalin.



Jillian English, the principal, said the school was looking at how the breach occurred to ensure it did not happen again.



“Our school takes privacy and data security very seriously and I recently arranged professional development for my staff to ensure they are able to follow best practice,” the newspaper quoted her as saying.



Merlino said education department privacy and IT staff would visit the school on Wednesday to make sure all staff understood privacy and IT issues.



“What I can say to parents and students across our education system, this looks to be a one-off human error, but it is a very serious matter,” he added.



The opposition education spokesman, Tim Smith, said it was more worrying if human error caused the breach.



“This is really serious data that’s been breached, it’s children’s private personal, medical and education data, and frankly it should be sacrosanct,” he said.



Strathmore college was contacted for comment.