warned.

Julia Beach, of the Adult Education School, told The Royal Gazette she believes the problem is on the rise and has called for a back-to-basics approach in Bermuda's schools.

"There don't seem to be any statistics, but it's one in six people in the States and I'm sure Bermuda is much the same,'' she said.

"I think it's getting worse. We've lost the tradition of reading to children.'' On Monday Bermuda Union of Teachers president Anthony Wolffe called for a mass campaign to stamp out illiteracy after claiming that at one middle school only seven out of 126 students had reached the required reading standard.

Mrs. Beach echoed this theme.

She said: "We're seeing children who have come out of high school, but still don't have basic English and maths. The scary thing is that they have graduated without being able to add or read.'' Mrs. Beach noted some had reached as far as gearing up to sit their Scholastic Aptitude Test to go away to college in America and Canada while still struggling with the basics.

"Some kids never read a book or write an essay,'' she said. "We have to deal with the basics of how to write an essay. But because they don't read, they don't have any ideas.'' Adult Education School director Eloise Furbert said she believed that most children were failing to get the required standard to get into Bermuda College.

She said it was crucial to get parents to encourage their children to read, but many did not have the time.

Illiteracy rate could be 1 in 6 "Bermuda is an expensive country to live in so a lot of parents are doing more than one job, so reading to their children is the bottom of the pile,'' Mrs. Furbert said.

"And a lot of parents have problems reading themselves.'' She was speaking on World Literacy Day which coincided with the launch of the new Literacy Place programme as many schools began the new term today. Chief Education Officer Joseph Christopher said his department recognised illiteracy was the biggest problem they faced.

He said the new programme would involve daily reading.

The Education Department's target is to by 2003 have all students at the respective levels reading at Primary Three, Primary Six and grade nine or Middle School 3 (the last year of middle school).

Dr. Christopher said all students had been tested earlier this year. But he did not want to reveal the findings until the relevant principals had been informed.

If students do not make the grade, they will be kept back until they do.

Though he stressed that under the new programme students who were struggling would be spotted early and given extra help.

He said: "If one learning method isn't working for that child, then we will try something else.'' But while children's literacy is assessed periodically during their school years, Dr. Christopher revealed that they are not tested in their final year.

The last time students are tested is in their first year of senior school.

Dr. Christopher said the years before children came to school were crucial for reading development and that parents should take advantage of the Child Development Project (CDP).

He said: "We are working to improve the coordination with the CDP. It was moved from the Health Department to Education with that purpose in mind.'' Class sizes have also been reduced with the aim of allowing more one-to-one attention for slow learners.

But Mrs. Furbert said she thought changing classroom methods had contributed to rising illiteracy rates.

She said: "A lot of them (students) aren't given homework. They aren't allowed to take books home. Exams are now multiple choice. It's like a trivia quiz where you need little actual knowledge.

"With a bit of luck you can do well. It doesn't encourage writing and thinking skills or help measure competency in English.'' She also said computers were replacing books as a leisure time pursuit which meant that children had little exposure to words.

But Dr. Christopher refused to be drawn on the scale of the illiteracy problem or its causes.

He said: "There are many hypothetical theories. Our job is to look at academic performance and focus on that.'' Reading Clinic director Janet Kemp said educational fashions over recent years had proved flawed.

She said during the last five to ten years the trend had been to teach the "whole language'' approach where there was little instruction on phonics which is the individual sounds of words.

"People believed if children were exposed to good literature, then it would help them be good readers. Bermuda wasn't unique in this. It was the fashion in America,'' said Ms. Kemp.

"It sounded good, but it wasn't the best way to teach children to learn how to read. At least 40 percent of children need instructions in phonics.

"Now there's a move to get both methods to come together so children will still be exposed to good literature while getting instruction in how language works and phonics.'' Dr. Christopher explained Literacy Place would be doing just that.

He said: "English is a difficult language to learn. The sounds of the letters aren't consistent.'' Students will still enjoy good books as well as learning with video and audio tapes under the new scheme, he added.

Ms Kemp welcomed the Literacy Place programme.