Government senators yesterday hit back at claims that more money than ever was being spent on education and blamed neglect by the Opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP) for leaving public schools lacking.

The UBP came under fire during the education debate yesterday after Opposition Senator Neville Darryl said Government was spending about $16,000 per child on schools this year, when private education cost much less.

He said since the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) had come into power four-and-half years ago, it had spent a total of half a billion dollars on education - and he questioned the results.

Sen. Darryl said: "Why is it that parents are still pulling their children from public schools into private schools or into home schools?

"With all the initiatives that have been outlined by the Junior Minister (Victoria Pearman) today, why is it today that things still seem disconnected and unreliable?"

But Government Senator Michael Scott accused the UBP during its term in office of "asset stripping" education, and said the PLP now needed to make up for lost time.

Mr. Scott said: "It has been stripped down to the bear minimum for years. This is the reason why we have to over-compensate and compensate for making up for many years (of neglect).

"We are doing a very fine job."

He said Government was expected to provide a sound education for children, along with decent housing, health care and social services for its people.

"Government would be expected to allocate a high level of resources and this is what we are doing," he said.

Sen. Scott said he fully accepted that Bermuda had one of the highest percentages of children in private education per capita, but said he made no apologies for that.

He said it was down to the fact that Bermuda's business sector was so successful, and the Island's Gross Domestic Product was one of the highest and healthiest in the world.

Sen. Scott said people could afford to put their children in private education, particularly as it was cheaper than in other countries, and said the number of ex-pat workers on the Island also affected the overall figure of students in private schools.

He said he disagreed that Government should be trying to reduce the number of children in private education because that would only do harm to the variety of schools on the Island.

And he said Bermuda needed a good mix of educational outlets and would always need both public and private schools.

But Sen. Scott said the reason the costs of running public education was so high was because it had to provide a variety of additional services, such as counsellors and psychiatrists, which private schools did not.

"We take what (students) we get. They have not had their breakfast; they are hungry; their parents may not be mum and dad at home; they may be coming from single homes," said Sen. Scott.

"That's why the education system must remain in place because we have a responsibility to educate our human resources from ages one to 18."

And Government Leader in the Senate David Burch claimed that it was because the UBP had not invested in public schools in the past, that Government now needed to plough in cash.

And Ms Pearman asked the Senate Chamber what better thing could Government invest its money in, other than education?

Acting Senate President Walwyn Hughes, who used to be chairman of Warwick Academy Board of Governors, said although fees for private schools were anywhere between $8,500 and $10,500 a year, there were always extras that parents had to pay that were not counted as part of the fees.

Therefore, he said the real cost of educating a child in private schools would be nearer to the $16,000 it cost in the public sector.

But he also said Government had to provide many more services in its schools than the private sector did, such as dealing with social ills.

"It's essential for this country that it has a successful and productive public school education," said Sen. Hughes.

"Private education is not a substitute, for it's a complement to (public education). I'm encouraged that this Government has accepted that and we need to see it working well."

Opposition Senator Leonard Santucci said: "We need to be concerned about and should be concerned about our children and their future and the quality of education we are capable of providing, and we ought not to be stingy in the process.

"We ought not worry about the zeros, but where those zeros are coming from."