Premier Ewart Brown warned last night that the findings of a review into the state of the Island's public schools would be a bitter pill to swallow - but a necessary one.

Dr. Brown will unveil a report compiled by UK education expert Professor David Hopkins and his review team on the Island's television and radio channels at 8 p.m. this evening (Thurs).

He told a public meeting last night: "I will be totally surprised if you like everything you hear but that is what happens with change. Change allows people to express and share information they may not have otherwise shared. We need to be honest that it is not right, that it is not producing what it should. It does not mean that it is the teachers' fault or the principals' fault or the Ministry's fault. Everyone is at fault.

"The system is not suiting our needs. It does not work for us and we have many people who stay in it just to be in it and others who come out of it without the tools to play in the economy of Bermuda. We can have classes at the prison but it's not right that people have to go to jail to get an education."

Dr. Brown was speaking at a Progressive Labour Party meeting at Elliot Primary School in Devonshire. He urged the audience to watch the TV address and said more information would be provided in the days following its broadcast.

Details of the report have been closely guarded by the Premier and Education Minister Randy Horton. One Government source told The Royal Gazette: "No one knows anything. The only people who know are the Minister and the Premier. They are recording the broadcast on the day to keep it under wraps." Another source added: "Everybody is holding it very close to their chests."

Mike Charles, general secretary of Bermuda Union of Teachers, said he knew nothing of the contents but was due to have a 4 p.m. meeting at the Ministry today, when he expected to be told more.

Mr. Charles said the union hoped the recommendations would include decentralising the system and reducing the number of Ministry officials, consistency in the curriculum taught at public schools and greater autonomy for principals.

Mr. Charles said: " What we have right now is a system of schools; we don't have a school system. We are too top heavy so that what happens is that everybody thinks that everything has to come from the Ministry. It worked much better in the past when there were fewer people up there."

He added: "Every child in every school should be doing the same standard of work. Principals should be allowed to have more autonomy over their schools so that they can do what it takes in their schools to effect good results. We are all aiming for the same goals but what might work at my school might not work at yours. Right now principals have so much paperwork that they are really not allowed to do what they are supposed to be doing."

Mr. Charles said the recommendations would only be useful if they were actually implemented. "We have had a lot of reviews in the past and a lot of recommendations but nothing has been done to follow through."

Professor Hopkins - who will appear on tonight's programme along with review team members Rhonda Woods-Smith and Dr. Lou Matthews - put together a radical rescue package to improve schools in Leicester, England, earlier this decade, after the city's education authority failed a Government inspection.

Prof. Hopkins was appointed a senior policy advisor to the UK Government.