Dear Sir,

David Burt has just returned Diallo Rabain to the education portfolio he previously held for more than seven years, asking him to take back the job in the wake of education minister Crystal Caesar’s sudden resignation from Cabinet on Thursday night. Given the way politicians historically handle these sorts of announcements, we the public will not be privy to the real reasons for her departure, but suffice it to say, there are always three sides to a story. In this case, hers, the Premier’s and the truth.

What does this mean? Well, for those of us observing from the sidelines, It means that after five years and $8.39 million of taxpayer dollars for an Education Reform consultant, we have made no progress in fixing public education.

Even the Bermuda Union of Teachers has branded the Government’s education reform a “massive failure” and has pledged to stand by its members during this tumultuous phase. Union statements strongly criticising a Progressive Labour Party government policy are scarce. However, between 2020 and 2026, there were at least six distinct instances where Bermuda public schools were forced to partially or fully close due to teacher absences or union-led sick-outs. When normally quiet Unions become this vocal under a PLP government, we know there is deep discontent and dysfunction within our public education system, which of course, is something the average Bermudian/parent has known for 25-plus years.

The 2007 Hopkins Report, commissioned under the PLP government, concluded that Bermuda's public education system was on the “brink of meltdown” due to severe administrative dysfunction and lack of leadership within the Ministry of Education. The review urged a radical restructuring of the ministry to address poor performance, recommending greater autonomy for schools and improved teacher quality.

There was an urgent call to dramatically improve teaching quality, elevate principals' leadership capabilities, and radically restructure the Ministry of Education to prioritise schools as its “clients”. It is interesting that Minister Caesar’s resignation statement mentioned a lack of support within the Cabinet to make meaningful decisions, particularly from Premier Burt.

If your memory has faded regarding the last three decades of Bermuda’s Public Education history, let me refresh it.

1998: Gaining power for the first time, the PLP becomes government. Education reform was a massive pillar of the PLP's historic 1998 election Campaign. Dame Jennifer Smith explicitly stated her goal as Minister of Education was to ensure “the framework for change was established”, and “recognising that systemic overhaul takes time”.

2007: To its credit, the PLP government commissioned the Hopkins report, “A Review of Public Education in Bermuda”, which revealed serious flaws in the entire public education system and provided recommendations for a massive overhaul.

2010: The PLP government released its “Blueprint for Reform in Education”, for consultation.

2013: Newly elected One Bermuda Alliance government issued another discussion paper: “Inclusive and Special Education, Getting It Right for Every Child”.

2017: Returning PLP government and education minister Diallo Rabain released “Plan 2022”, a public schools reform plan incorporating key principles from the 2007 Hopkins Report.

2020: PLP government hires education consultant Innovation Unit Australia to redesign the public school system, with the goal of “enabling each and every young person to lead personally and professionally, compete locally, and contribute globally”.

2021: PLP government introduced The Education Amendment Act 2021 — to abolish the middle school system, replace it with “Parish Primary Schools” and senior “Signature Schools”.

2022: The massive public education transformation begins to phase out middle schools and shift to a two-tier structure.

2025: Newly appointed education minister Crystal Caesar formally rescinds the previously established reform timeline for future school openings/closures beyond 2025, to allow more infrastructure planning and operational readiness.

2026: Parents, teachers, education stakeholders, union representatives, loudly voice their concerns: “Our children deserve consistency, thoughtful planning and decisions that are made with parental input — not repeated system-wide shifts that create uncertainty and anxiety for students and families alike.” Education minister Crystal Caesar resigns, citing repeated interference in the work of qualified professionals and a lack of governance transparency.

Now, if just reading about this 28 years of education disruption, confusion, consultation and changing course gives you a headache, think about what it has done to two generations of children who lived it and whose futures hang in the balance. While politicians (adults) toss education around like a football, our young people continue to suffer all the dire consequences.

What will it take to recognise that generally, governments don’t “do” education well? There are lots of reasons for this, not the least of which is the amount of control that is wielded over the administration of the schools themselves. This includes ministerial/political overreach and the influence of unions, which sometimes can be counterproductive to the success of the schools.

The 2007 Hopkins Report had these primary recommendations for “saving” our public education:

Improve teaching quality: The No 1 recommendation of the Hopkins Report was to drastically improve teaching quality and eliminate inconsistent lesson delivery across schools.

Radical overhaul of the ministry: The report severely criticised the Department of Education, calling its leadership “bureaucratic, incompetent and secretive”. It recommended removing senior ministry staff and installing a temporary external executive board to facilitate a major restructuring of the existing Ministry of Education, downsizing the Department of Education and shifting more control to individual school leaders and teachers.

Strengthen principal leadership: Principals were mandated to act as instructional leaders rather than just administrators to ensure every teacher delivered challenging, engaging lessons.

Establish transparent accountability: Implementation of clear, internationally recognised curricula that are externally assessed to ensure the island's students could compete globally.

Delegate school management: Moving control over how and what public schools teach away from the central Department of Education and placing it into the hands of school leaders and their teachers.

Enhance student support services: Tailoring education for students with cognitive, physical and emotional disabilities and ensuring specialised services — such as school counsellors — met high standards.

Increase parental engagement: Engaging parents and the community more deeply in the education process.

Given the chaos over just the past six years alone, together with the expert help of our $8 million-plus education consultant — for which we have had no real performance metrics or updates — we really have no idea whether any of the above Hopkins recommendations have actually been implemented.

There is a disturbing thought which comes to mind regarding the delivery of public education in Bermuda. Knowing that our economy is service oriented, with international business being our main economic driver since the late 1980s, why is it that governments have no hesitation in rolling out the (regulatory) red carpet for these companies, yet they do not/will not give our children a superior quality public education to allow them to meaningfully participate/compete in that part of the economy? They have had 35-plus years to do it. Nothing screams “class-action lawsuit” more than this.

I really believe the Hopkins Report was on to something and we have had this detailed education road map in our possession for 19 years. It is clear that multiple governments have squandered a real opportunity to fix education and the price to be paid for that cannot not be measured in dollars, but in children's futures lost.

Let that sink in.

BEVERLEY CONNELL

Pembroke