percent of its primary school students are absent from their classrooms on any given school day, the Parliamentary Secretary for Education said yesterday.

Sen. Lynda Milligan-Whyte also told her Senate colleagues, who were questioning the Secretary on truancy levels in Bermuda's schools, that "behavioural problems and incarceration'' were the primary factors behind students who don't graduate.

"These are disciplinary problems primarily,'' Sen. Milligan-Whyte revealed.

"We are deeply concerned about them, and steps are being taken to have counselling both within and without the schools to ensure that these students do not fall through the cracks.'' Given the incidence of truancy at schools, Opposition Senate Leader Sen.

Milton Scott wanted to know why a truancy officer has not been employed by the Education Ministry in the last five years.

And he asked Sen. Milligan-Whyte to explain why 33 percent of Bermudian students who enter the public school system eventually drop out.

Although Sen. Milligan-Whyte couldn't immediately answer the first question, saying she needed to consult with Ministry officials on the issue, she did say that "senior Education Officers make regular checks with principals on the attendance of students''.

On the subject of public school "drop-outs'', Sen. Milligan-Whyte told her colleagues it was inaccurate to characterise the students who leave the public system as such.

"Not all of the students drop out,'' she said. "Some go on to the private school system, to the Adult Education Centre or to schools abroad.'' Nonetheless, the Senator admitted, the public school system in Bermuda did suffer from a negative public image, and she called on politicians in particular to "actively support'' it.

Progressive Labour Party Sen. Neletha (Honey) Butterfield , whose questions some weeks ago prompted yesterday's discussion on education, wanted to know how many students had dropped out in recent years as well as the number of expulsions.

Citing 1991, the last year in which drop-out levels were measured, Sen.

Milligan-Whyte said that 6.5 percent of students had left school.

Since the start of the current school year, she added, no students had been expelled from their classrooms, although 94 students had been suspended.