Bermudians are coming out of the public school system with very few skills, Government Senate Leader Lynda Milligan-Whyte has charged.

Speaking to students at the Bermuda High School for girls during a recent assembly, Sen. Milligan-Whyte said: "We have weaknesses in our country and we must overcome them.

"The school system, especially the public school system is not preparing a large proportion of our population with the requisite skills to compete in a changing economy.

"Bermudians are coming out of school with very few skills, yet we have very skilled people coming in and building a marvellous economy.

"The public school system primarily needs to be completely reformed so that we will have Bermudians who can go out and make a living.'' Sen. Milligan-Whyte, who has her own law firm -- later told The Royal Gazette she has noticed many high school graduates are neither critical thinkers nor computer literate.

"I think that a lot has to do with the traditional curriculum in our schools,'' Sen. Milligan-Whyte said, adding too much emphasis was placed on passing exams rather than critical thinking.

But she added that she understood more emphasis would be placed on making the curriculum relevant under the restructured public school system.

The Minister of Women's Affairs -- who was the second prominent female to address BHS girls at a series of assemblies aimed at boosting students' awareness about women in Bermuda -- also told BHS students that education was changing, with computers allowing them access to "an enormous amount of information''.

"We have to learn how to use the information because you will be over-exposed to information,'' Sen. Milligan-Whyte said. "I challenge you to create new ways of learning.'' She also challenged the students to get involved in building a better Bermuda.

Stressing that the world was changing "dramatically'', Sen. Milligan-Whyte said: "Your role is to first understand what is happening outside Bermuda.

"If you continue to think parochially, you will fail to meet the challenges after you graduate from school or meet the needs of the community.'' She added: "As a female Bermudian you can actually effect change, become leaders, or become whatever you decide to become.'' But she said she was deeply concerned about crime and drug problems in schools.

"It is not sufficient to ignore it,'' Sen. Milligan-Whyte said. "If you know someone who is involved in drugs, it is important to recognise that they will impact on your life.'' Noting the direct link between drug addiction and crime, she said: "We have to take responsibility for what is going on in our community and get involved.'' She noted that the Island's only natural resources was its people and its success was due to Bermudians' creativity.

"We have developed a tremendous tradition of looking outside Bermuda,'' she said. "We used to ship vegetables to the Eastern seaboard, but when refrigeration was invented that market disappeared overnight. We went on to trade with the Islands, and with Canada.'' After this, a group of Bermudian businessmen decided that Bermuda had a role to play in international finance and business.

"There were wealthy people who were looking for a domicile to bring their assets, to protect them,'' she explained, adding that international business began when wealthy Americans sailed their yachts to Bermuda and started trust funds here in order to protect their assets from a tax law that was enacted around the time of the First World War.

The law, which was expected to last six months, was never repealed, she noted.