An education authority must be “built to survive” political change as it seeks to provide stronger governance and clearer accountability in the public school system, the Minister of Education told Parliament today.

Diallo Rabain delivered a ministerial statement about the Education Authority Bill ahead of its tabling in the House of Assembly.

Mr Rabain said of the authority: “It must survive changes in ministers. It must survive changes in governments. It must survive the ordinary rhythms of political life.

“The answer is durability.

“An education authority provides a governance structure whose remit is education — and only education — insulated from the pressures of short political timescales, with a single, accountable point of professional leadership at the top of the public school system.

“Our children’s education cannot be started and stopped every four or five years.

“That is what this legislation is about — creating that stability and safeguarding it for the generations to come.”

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Education Authority statement

The 2025 Throne Speech committed to bringing the Bill to the legislature in this legislative session.

In July, Mr Rabain updated the House on the legislation’s purpose, progress and principles.

He told MPs today: “Establishing an education authority is among the most significant governance reforms contemplated for our public education system in a generation.

“The Bill I will table will bring focus, accountability and dedicated governance to a system that has for too long been asked to reform itself while simultaneously running itself …

“This Bill builds on that shared analysis and on the reform work already under way and it does what earlier efforts could not. It places the governance framework for public education into statute where it can endure beyond any single administration.”

The minister said that every child deserves to learn in a system that is well-governed, professionally led and focused on their outcomes in literacy, numeracy, wellbeing and “in the life chances they carry with them into adulthood”.

Mr Rabain insisted that the authority was not just “a rebranding exercise”.

He explained: “It is not moving names on an organisational chart.

“It is a carefully designed structural reform, delivered in defined stages, to address longstanding challenges in the governance and accountability of our public education system.”

The Bill provides for the establishment of the authority in legislated stages with appropriate legal safeguards along the way.

Mr Rabain said the authority was the vehicle through which there can be delivery of the broader reform agenda, including signature schools and parish primary schools, improved professional development, multiple pathways to success and inclusive education.

He said the Bill was the result of two decades of work, starting with the Hopkins Report of 2007 that “laid bare the systemic challenges facing our public school system”.

Mr Rabain outlined successive reviews, plans and independent reports that followed in the years after as well as the “pivotal role” of Bermuda Learning First in recommending an education authority.

“That recommendation, from a body representing a broad cross-section of our community, aligned directly with the evidence that had been accumulating for over a decade,” Mr Rabain said.

The Education Authority Working Group, formed in 2021, was then convened to translate policy commitment into operation.

“They wrestled with legislation, governance structures, funding models, accountability mechanisms and transition planning.”

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