Angry parents are set to march on the Ministry of Education if the Government continues to ignore their concerns over a new student management system.

Parents at CedarBridge Academy last night voted to hold a demonstration if Education Minister Terry Lister did not respond to complaints about the Chancery SMS system, which allows teachers to electronically record attendance, before the end of the week.

The system was installed in all of the Island?s public schools last September but has failed to live up to expectations. Parents no longer receive automated calls when their children do not attend class, as they did under the old WinSchool system. Problems with producing reports and collating accurate data have also been reported and a feature which allowed parents to access their children?s marks is no longer available.

Karen Belboda, chairman of the Parent Teacher Student Association, told the meeting last night: ?We as parents can march and we can close down the school.?

She told the meeting that she had written two letters to Education Minister Terry Lister since the start of 2006 but had received no response. Parents voted last night for her to attempt to set up a meeting with Mr. Lister before the end of this week.

If that request is ignored, parents and students from CedarBridge could march to the Ministry on Dundonald Street. Mrs. Belboda said: ?Let?s get militant! We are not going to come to blows over it but we are definitely going to let him (Mr. Lister) know what we want. I think we have got a big enough mouth to make a big enough noise.?

One father said: ?I think we should take our children and march down to the Ministry. If we think they are playing with us, let us show them we are serious.?

Another mother called out: ?Send us to the Ministry en masse.?

Lisa Trott, president of Bermuda Union of Teachers, told that teachers had been complaining about the system since it was introduced but the Ministry had failed to resolve the issues.

?Our teachers are very upset that it seems that nobody is paying attention and nobody is listening to these concerns. We welcome the support of the parents because we want the parents to be well aware before graduation starts that this system was forced upon the teachers.?

She warned that unless the problems were ironed out before June, unreliable figures on attainment and attendance could affect graduation.

Shadow Education Minister Neville Darrell, who has raised the issue in the House of Assembly, congratulated the parents for taking a stand.

?I?m not surprised that they feel strongly about this,? he said. ?At the end of the day, who are the clients of the Ministry of Education? The clients are the school community and the families that they serve.

?You must take care of your customers. In this case, the Ministry has failed to exercise a fair duty of care.?