Education Minister Sen. Milton Scott said the days of teachers buying resources out of their own pockets will soon become a thing of the past.

Come September, teachers will be issued special Mathematics Place packs, which will be similar to the recently introduced Literacy Place for language subjects.

And Sen. Scott handed out to Senators an example of the special textbooks, workbooks, teacher resources and even handwriting guides now provided to primary school teachers by the Education Ministry.

Mr. Scott was speaking during the upper chamber's Budget Debate.

Last month, in the House of Assembly, Opposition members criticised Government for having the Education Minister in the Senate.

But Sen. Scott spoke about his role as Education minister, and said he had "clarified the role'' of the Board of Education, reconfirming it as an advisory body.

And he promised his ministry would be the first to be successful at "zero based budgeting'' beginning on April 1, having implemented it last year.

Last year the Department of Education programme had been reviewed by the same team that had prepared the 1996 Curriculum Management Audit.

Sen. Scott had also ordered a management audit of the department to see if there could be budget reductions at the school system's headquarters.

Other programmes aimed at raising the level of literacy and general educational standard in the Island include the Reading Recovery Programme, now in place at all 18 primary schools.

Sen. Scott said there had been some success with RRP as the percentage of students reaching a satisfactory level had jumped from 62 percent in 1998 to 77.5 percent last year.

He also made much of the Village Meetings held during Education Month to invite input from the public on the direction of the school system.

Sen. Scott reiterated that he intended to release statistics concerning education like national testing scores "in due course''.

Sen. Scott also received high praise from his Senate colleagues in response to his presentation of the Ministry's budget.

UBP Senator Mark Pettingill said he could find no fault with allocations in the Education Budget, saying the Minister's "heart is in the right place''.

Sen. Pettingill was most impressed with the new teaching materials students will be using.

Sen. Pettingill, a former teacher in the public school system, also urged Government to consider compelling parents to participate in the education of their children by introducing special legislation.

"I'm glad to see parents are now being taken to court when their children are truant from school,'' he said. "It should be legislated that parents have to participate. I think it is disgraceful that some parents don't go to parent teachers meetings.'' But Sen. Pettingill was critical of Government's decision to spend over $24 million on fast ferries when he held that for half of that, every student on the Island could be outfitted with a personal computer.

"I think it is a travesty when we could do this with the money,'' he said.

"I would encourage Government to spend money wisely not on frivolous things and not just cater to taste,'' he continued.

PLP Senator Calvin Smith said the argument was not a fair one and noted that no one disputes that the present ferries need to be replaced.

"It is not fair to assume that the cost of replacing the current ferries with models similar, would not run as much as the cost of the high speed ones,'' he said. "The difference suggested is misleading.'' Independent senators Jeanette Cannonier and President Alf Oughton both expressed concern that the Education Budget saw an increase below the rate of inflation.

"The total Education Budget increased one percent while the cost of living increased 2.8 percent, so I am concerned that someone is being shortchanged,'' Sen. Oughton said.

But independent Senator Walwyn Hughes a former financial secretary in the Ministry of Finance, praised the efforts of the Ministry in this regard and said he felt it was "a good thing'' if the Ministry could stick to their budget and added "I would encourage them to do so''.

All Senators welcomed former banker and head of the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation, Michelle Khaldun, as the Permanent Secretary for Education.

UBP Senator Kim Swan suggested that the tight Budget was as a direct result of Ms Khaldun's expertise and independent Sen. Cannonier praised the Ministry's decision to appoint a professional administrator.