The Ministry of Education will be implementing The Living Values character education programme at Heron Bay, Southampton Glebe and Prospect Primary schools this year.

Education Minister Terry Lister told the House of Assembly on Friday night that character education was an essential tool needed to equip young people with core ethical values that can be used to promote responsibility and ethically sound citizens of the community. The Living Values programme was piloted at Harrington Sound, Elliot and Somerset Primary Schools during the 2003/2004 school year and will be expanded to other primary schools in due course. Mr. Lister said after being trained, staff at all three schools showed a strong commitment to follow through with the goals and objectives of the curriculum and have seen positive results from student reports.

He said teachers and counsellors integrated many of the character lessons across key learning areas and these included language arts, arts and drama, physical education and social studies. ?Data collected by each of the schools indicated that there has been a significant drop in the number of students referred to the principal?s office for discipline,? he said.

Mr. Lister said it was imperative that all students receive information, training and opportunity to acquire skills necessary to promote good character.

At Middle School level, the Ashay: Rites of Passage Programme was piloted last year at Dellwood Middle School from January to June and fully implemented in September last year.

Mr. Lister said the Ministry would conduct an evaluation of Ashay to ascertain the benefits of the programme and the information would be used to make a decision about implementing it at other Middle Schools.

Meanwhile the proposed Academic Monitoring and Character Development Mentoring Project will be introduced in Bermuda, first through a summer programme to about 120 students this year and an in-school based programme.

The summer school will be held from July 4 to August 12 this year and first preference will be given to those identified students from the Dellwood Family of Schools and second preference to other middle school students.

Mr. Lister said these students would be exposed to academics, cultural excursions, recreation and sport.

Two in-school co-ordinators will be appointed and based in one of the schools in the Dellwood Family of Schools and they will assist students to develop Individual Success Plans, set academic and social goals and develop and implement strategies designed to assist each student in meeting his goals.