countries, including Britain, says Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira.

Dr. Terceira returned to the Island on Saturday from the Commonwealth Education Ministers Conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he said seven countries requested information packets about Bermuda's pre-schools.

The United Kingdom requested two packets, and South Africa, Botswana, Bahamas, Malawi, the Seychelles, and Trinidad each requested one, he said.

And the Bahamas has requested that Bermuda head of pre-schools Ms Alberta Dyer-Tucker -- who prepared the packets -- visit the Caribbean country to talk to educators about pre-schools.

The conference, which ran from November 27 to December 1, brought together Education Ministers from 48 Commonwealth countries.

Dr. Terceira was accompanied by Education Permanent Secretary Dr. Marion Robinson.

He said Bermuda's school system takes a lot of knocks, but when he attends meetings like the one in Pakistan he feels the Island is doing well.

"You find out that you're way ahead of a lot of countries,'' he said.

"You go and you find that people are saying: `Help us out'.'' British Secretary of State for Education Mr. Eric Forth asked Dr. Terceira to put together a package on Bermuda's 12 public pre-schools, which are voluntary, but attended by more than 50 percent of four-year-olds.

A major recommendation of a commission on education in England last year was that Government open pre-schools. A recent American study shows that every $1 spent on pre-schools results in $7 in savings, because delinquency and incarceration are reduced, Dr. Terceira said.

Mr. Sam Petroda, an Indian communications and computer expert at the conference, "was amazed that we have a computer in every pre-school,'' he said.

Dr. Terceira recommended that pre-schools be placed on the next conference agenda.

The conference is held about every three years and it was the first one attended by South Africa in more than three decades.

Mr. Forth was unable to attend the conference because of commitments at Westminster, and the UK delegation that Bermuda was part of was headed by British junior minister Lord Lucas.

Decentralising school systems was a topic at the conference, he said.

Bermuda is moving in that direction. Dr. Terceira plans to have a local board appointed for each school, with control over finance and management.

Schools meeting But Dr. Terceira could not say whether creation of local boards would result in cuts in manpower at the Ministry office, which has been described as top-heavy.

"How far do you go?'' he asked. "Do you go as far as New Zealand, which is almost privatising its schooling and has cut its education civil service from 3,500 to 400?'' Dollar savings have not resulted, because the money is being spent in other areas, he said.

In Bermuda, he felt standards and assessment had to remain with the Ministry, and local boards would have to be financially accountable to the Ministry.