XL Capital chief executive officer Brian O'Hara was rightly honoured this week with a citation for his company's efforts in bringing computers into the Island's public schools.

The XL Education Initiative, launched under the aegis of the XL Foundation, is an example of how the private and public sectors can work together to improve the Island. Specifically in this case, XL has helped to bring computers and computer learning into Government schools which would not otherwise be able to afford them.

In addition, XL brought in instructors and has given teachers training, which should help students to enter the workforce with the skills that they need to be successful. Now the programme is being turned over to the Bermuda Technology Education Collaborative, a joint venture tasked with continuing and expanding the programme.

The real proof of the programme's success, as Mr. O'Hara said, "will come when we start turning out young people in the workforce who are highly competitive on a world stage".

It is to be hoped that will indeed occur. Ensuring that it does will be the joint responsibility of Government and the XL Foundation, as well as the wider community. The programme wants to place interns in Government and the private sector and has also made parental involvement a major goal and it is up to all the groups involved to make sure it works and to learn from any mistakes that may be made along the way.

If that can be done, then the initiative will not only be commendable in its own right but should serve as a blueprint for similar projects.