Closing five primary schools would be a cost-cutting measure that makes "economic sense", said Education Minister El James.

This newspaper yesterday revealed that five primary schools — East End Primary, Prospect Primary, Gilbert Institute, Heron Bay Primary and Dalton E. Tucker Primary — could be closed as early as September.

In addition, middle schools could also be shut, extending primary school to P7 and adding a year to senior school.

Government is also discussing building another senior school that would specialise in performing arts, sports, or gifted and talented students.

The Royal Gazette was yesterday overwhelmed with responses both in e-mail and on our Facebook page against any plans to close down five primary schools.

Last night Mr. James spoke about the radical plans and said: "We are looking at it. It's a cost-cutting measure and also when you see the numbers that have dropped. Some schools have 90 students. It just makes economic sense when they could be consolidated.

Asked if there was an option that the Ministry preferred, he said: "We are in the planning stage so we don't know. If we have one that we preferred, we wouldn't have a plan."

Speaking on the possible change of classroom sizes, the Minister said: "I don't know about 20 plus kids. I don't see 20 plus. There may be some 20 to 22. We're not going with 30 or 40 kids in the classroom."

He also said: "Although we are actively reviewing the possible consolidation and reorganisation of the school system, the information that was released yesterday was preliminary. No decisions have been made yet, and we only had the opportunity to have initial discussions about the proposals with Principals today, after the document was made public.

"I would like to take this opportunity to assure parents that if a decision is made to close certain schools, parents will be informed directly. We will do everything possible to make sure that parents do not learn about such significant decisions via the media."

Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons questioned whether Government is straying from the almost three-year-old Hopkins report.

The report listed 10 recommendations and closing schools and building another were not part of them.

"We need to get the Minister to essentially give us a sense of what direction he's going in but more importantly, we need to know what the overall plan is. Hopkins is now three years old. There were 10 recommendations to reform education.

"We were promised a plan in 2008. In 2009 we were promised a plan. It raises a lot of questions about if they're still committed to Hopkins. How do these proposals fit into the broader education plan? How is this going to improve the public education system for students?"

Parents were also upset about the possible closures. One said: "Why do we need to be inconvenienced? Not only will we be put out of our way in regards to the going and coming from school, but how will it improve student performance when they could possibly get lost in a 'crowd'?

"Yes, as a parent I want what is best for my child and although change may be hard, if necessary I can adjust. But this is something I feel hasn't been fully looked into, not for it to be implemented for September 2010, and we the parents are just told this is what is happening."

Myron Piper, of the Bermuda Democratic Alliance, said: "We applaud Government for ostensibly embracing this point of view since the Alliance believes in an education system that will ensure all of Bermuda's people are equipped with the knowledge and understanding to preserve our freedoms and maintain our prosperity.

"However, the lack of transparency in terms of decision-making by the Department of Education remains high as Government continues to espouse its involvement of all stakeholders to the dismay of many. The Alliance queries whether the recent proposal to close schools is merely a result of economic streamlining or merely a decision based on damage control due to gross over spending.

"The Ministry of Education has had little or no success in solving the issues affecting the improvement of our Education System. Yet, they continue to promote themselves to higher levels of incompetence. The passion and commitment necessary to change the outcome of our present failures is sadly lacking. After numerous consultants with extravagant contracts, costing the Bermuda public millions of dollars, we have seen many of those initiatives abandoned with little or no improvement and in some instances degradation."

He added: "Having said that, we support the present initiatives proposed, bringing about pragmatic changes that would streamline the Ministry so that the number of students have a direct correlation with the number of teachers tied to financial prudence. There is no existing data to my knowledge that supports improved outcomes of student learning with smaller class sizes."

Mr. Piper said the Alliance supported the proposed changes under the stipulation that the selection process for selecting those teachers and principals that will remain be selected based on merit and transparency.

He cautioned: "We do not however support another senior school, which we feel would undermine the very same principles the Ministry is alluding to. The student population does not support another senior school either."