The Minister of Education yesterday praised staff at public schools for coming to the aid of their students in need.

In October a former teacher, Mike Charles went on the radio to say that public school teachers and school counsellors had taken it upon themselves to feed and clothe some of their pupils. Some teachers even distributed spare school uniforms to less well-off children.

Addressing the House of Assembly, Minister Terry Lister said he investigated the issue and found that they did exist.

"There are indeed some children who come to school without breakfast or lunch and there are a variety of reasons for this," he admitted to MPs.

"However, the number of students who are in need varies from time to time. It appears that January through March is a time when the number of students who need support may change."

Mr. Lister added that some school leaders have suggested that there may be a correlation between the need and the fact that this is traditionally the slow season for hotels, adding: "Although we in Education have no hard data to support this."

He added that where schools had seen a need, they had taken steps to assist and with the approval of parents, had made contact with local agencies, including churches ? many of which have brown bag breakfast and lunch programmes in place.

On the question of students coming to school without food, Mr. Lister suggested that some parents did not prepare lunch for their children because they did not realise the critical role that proper nutrition plays in helping young people "maintain the positive attitude necessary to achieve".

"I cannot explain the reasons why parents would not provide lunch for their children, but I can tell you that the information provided by schools suggest that a lack of funds is not the primary issue."

"Too many families have the economically wherewithal to provide food, but for whatever reason, they are not doing so," he said.

As for the lack of school uniforms, Mr. Lister told the House that some schools had clothing and uniform recycling programmes in place.

He said this meant that parents are not obliged to go out and buy brand new uniforms every time their children outgrew a uniform.

But instead they could check with the school or with their PTA and see whether there were items which are in good condition which they can use, adding that there was no reason why any child should not be properly outfitted for school.

However, Mr. Lister was critical of Bermudians' priorities, using the recent clothing drive by CedarBridge Academy for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"Bermudians not only donated used clothing, but also plenty of clothing with the tags still on them, never worn," Mr. Lister continued.

"So I would suggest that in some cases where we speak about lack in this Island, it may be that our priorities may be misplaced and that is something that we will have to examine carefully and pay attention to, especially as we consider the sustainable development of this Island."

Mr. Lister did however thank school administrators, teachers, school nurses and counsellors for their efforts to stay on top of the needs of their students.