The Minister of Education has called on MPs to set aside politics and put the island’s children first as the House of Assembly debated landmark legislation for the creation of an independent education authority.

Diallo Rabain also said the Education Authority Act 2026 was not “about protecting the authority” of the education minister.

It came amid questions form the Opposition about the independence of the education authority.

Ben Smith, the Opposition leader, accused Mr Rabain of politicking on the issue as the Opposition was not provided with amendments to the legislation before it went for debate by MPs.

He also questioned what was preventing Department of Education from delivering on its mandate.

Mr Rabain told the House that the legislation centres on building an education system that does not need to depend upon a minister to run it.

He added: “We must be prepared to let the authority govern — independence cannot simply be a slogan.

“If we genuinely want a professionally governed authority, we must give its board room to exercise professional judgment within clear statutory guardrails.”

He told the House: “We cannot demand independence from Government and replace ministerial micromanagement with parliamentary micromanagement.

“Parliament's job is to establish the purpose and powers, guardrails and accountability.”

Mr Rabain said while governments and ministers would change, “Bermuda’s commitment to its children must not”.

He said the transition of the sector to operate from under the Department of Education to the authority will be done in phases.

Mr Rabain described the education authority as a corporate body, adding: “It will be a body that does the heavy lifting of consulting, design and recommendation on how Bermuda's education system will ultimately work.”

Mr Rabain said the authority will receive oversight from a transition committee, which will not determine curriculum, standards, long-term education strategy or the day-to-day operations of schools.

“Its purpose concerns the mechanics of moving responsibilities from one government structure to another,” he said.

“That work necessarily engages public officers, staff arrangements, assets and liabilities, contracts and records, statutory responsibilities and continuity of service.”

The Opposition leader responded that while the One Bermuda Alliance supported the principle of a genuinely independent education authority, “a new name is not enough”.

He said: “We need to know what lessons have been learnt from the decades of reform.

“What will be different in practice on the other side of this? Our children’s education must have a longer horizon than our political careers.

“That's why independence matters, that’s why trust matters, because that brings us to how we arrive to where we are today.”

Noting a lack of consultation on the process, he said the OBA has received reports of a lack of communication with the public on the subject.

Mr Smith said: “We spoke to the stakeholders, the parents, the teachers, the principals, the administrators, the same people that I believe the minister spoke to.

“But so many people tell us that they cannot recognise their concerns dealt with in the legislation — the question they have is, what is the consultation?”

Mr Smith said while the legislation calls the authority “independent”, it leaves out the most important decisions of influence.

He listed several areas for change in the legislation, including the removal of ministerial interference from matters in the public school system.

He said: “You need to make sure from the beginning that if the goal at the top is no political interference, the entire system continues to be built the same way.

“We're going to hold everybody accountable on the other side of this. That has to be the measure of success.”

He said a fundamental position of concern of the Opposition for the mandate of the authority was improved student learning needs.

Mr Smith said the establishment of an education authority “has to be a clean move forward”, adding: “Because our students deserve it, the world they’re about to go into is very complicated. ”

He called on the Government to “solve” underlying problems affecting the sector before the education authority is created.

Mr Smith said: “Do not move those problems to a new system. Solve them first.

“Today has to be the day that we move forward to solve the problem that we have been discussing for 28 years.”

Owen Darrell, the Minister of Tourism, Transport, Culture and Sport, said as a former educator he believes in public education, stating that the creation of an education authority would help put the right people in place to make the right decisions.

He said: “I believe that every child in this country deserves a good education, regardless of who their parents are, where they live or what challenges they face.

“I believe we also have to be honest, honest enough to admit that somewhere along the way we have lost sight of what actually matters most.”

Mr Darrell said that the island was equipped with excellent teachers and principals, along with parents who want the best for their children, but many have become frustrated by the education system.

He added: “We got caught up looking after a system, looking into a system that we created, and we forgot that this system was supposed to be looking after our children.”

Dwayne Robinson, the Shadow Minister of Home and Community Affairs, said both parties supported creating an education authority, but the question was if there were enough guardrails in the legislation to ensure its future success.

He said: “At this point what we’re asking for is that the minister consider concerns that we have regarding this legislation and that we work together to implement those concerns into the legislation and pass it.”

Mr Robinson said the OBA wanted public accountability, stating that the legislation included little whistleblower protection.

He urged the government to consider the ten points put forward by the OBA, suggesting that improvements can be made and the legislation could be approved by the end of the month with bipartisan support.

As of 7.45pm, the debate continued.