Bermuda?s public education system is failing high-flying students, a teacher alleged last night.

David Chapman, a science teacher at Berkeley Institute, told a public meeting at the school that poor resources meant lessons had to be constantly pitched to the middle ground.

He said: ?I see it in my classroom every day ? we have high fliers and we have low fliers. The current state of education is teaching to the medium.

?We teach to the average and the high-fliers aren?t really able to be challenged because we don?t have the resources. The low fliers, who get a little bit more attention, are often left behind.?

He said many parents on the Island were sending their children to private schools because ?they feel that something is not being offered? at public schools.

?We will never have a Rhodes Scholar graduate from the public education system again,? he said. ?It?s sad to say but that?s how I feel. Many of the students that we probably would like to push are already taken out of the system.?

Mr. Chapman criticised Terry Lister, the Minister for Education, and the new Permanent Education secretary for not attending last night?s forum, organised by Progressive Minds, the youth wing of the PLP.

Neville Darrell, the Shadow Education Minister, attended the earlier part of the meeting.

Mr. Chapman also claimed the Ministry of Education rarely visited his school so he did not see first-hand the problems in classrooms.

?On a yearly basis, I hardly see anybody from the Ministry of Education come to my school,? he said.

He called for an Island-wide campaign promoting education and the recruitment of more males into senior positions in the school system.

?We need to identify what we are doing right and continue those things. The students do not value the education that they have the opportunity to get for free.?

Mr. Chapman was on a panel with two other teachers, Dr. Melvin Bassett, principal of Sandys Middle School and Michelle Squire, from Saltus Grammar School, plus a Bermuda College student, Scharla Bean.

Ms Squire told the meeting that Bermuda needed to introduce African-centred learning to its public schools to give pupils there ? the majority of whom are black ? the confidence to succeed.

?Children of African descent are put in the centre of learning,? she said. ?Right now, we have Euro-centric learning which means Europeans are the centre of the learning.

?We as Africans revolve around the Euro-centric education. We need to teach children that Africa is where it started. It is understanding that Africa was the birthplace ? it?s where everything started.

?You would be amazed at how confident they become.?

Miss Bean said her education had not provided her with the confidence to accomplish her goals. ?I don?t feel I was given sufficient education about my heritage,? she said.

The meeting heard that Dellwood Middle School is piloting an education project, Ashay Rites of Passage, based on African-centred learning principles.

Principal Jeanette Musson said the system was leading pupils and teachers on a ?journey of consciousness? and that the plan was to roll out the programme to all middle schools.

Later, Dr. Bassett repeated concerns he has publicly aired before about the high number of students attending private schools in Bermuda.

He said there was a ?cocktail party culture? for sending children to private schools which would eventually cause deep segregation within the community.

He said: ?We have some serious challenges in public education. Any community that has as much as 50 percent of the population in private education has a problem.

?It?s important for us as a country to appreciate the fact that we have a diverse population, a growing diverse population, but that diverse population is not reflected in public education. It?s very well reflected in private education. That?s not healthy.

?At one time there was great integration even in our primary schools. That too has declined.

?We collectively, parents, teachers, legislators and the general public, have to take this issue of public education by the proverbial horns. We have got to fix it.?