Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith asked what the $50,000 allocated to the Secondary School Certificate in the Budget would be spent on.

He said last year, then Education Minister Milton Scott announced that the exam system, and the accreditation, in particular, was under review and a committee was looking into the issue. But more than 12 months later, he continued, the findings had not been made public and the community still did not know what would happen.

He asked: “Are there any changes planned for the Bermuda School Certificate? We need to introduce our graduating students to exam standards that are internationally recognised. Some of our private schools are moving, or have moved, to an international baccalaureate programme. It would have been beneficial that we asked our private school administrators to sit on that exam review committee, too.”

Mr. Smith also pointed out that there was still no senior four curriculum, nor additional teachers or location identified for the creation of the extra secondary school year this September.

And he accused Government of dragging its feet on the teacher licensing scheme, and said there had been no public statements or findings released from a committee set up more than a year ago to lift low teacher morale.

Mr. Smith said Government relied too much on the private XL initiative, which infused information technology into schools with the help of businesses.

And he said he believed teachers and principals were overburdened and were mentally and physically stressed.

Mr. Smith asked: “How is success being measured by the PLP in these areas and how should it be measured? We believe too much emphasis has been placed on the early years, pre-school and primary, with not enough emphasis on the middle and senior levels.

“While it's a laudable approach to put resources into the primary level, I believe we have tipped the scales way too far. That's why we are seeing the stresses we are in the middle schools and some of the discipline issues at the senior schools. They have not been able to balance resources nor devote adequate resources to the adolescent years when children's lives are considerably more complex and demands on teachers more acute.”

Mr. Smith said he believed in order to give education a “heart transplant”, Bermuda needed to move towards a more school-based management system, where education was de-centralised and schools were given more authority and accountability.

He added: “We would scrap the Ministry as we currently know it and restate its mandate as an Inspectorate of Schools, establishing the desired standards and reporting on the performance of each school against these standards.

“To change the ethos and improve school culture and raise academic achievement, we would establish A Bill Of Rights and Responsibilities for Learning, Standards of Conduct, Standards of Achievement.”

He said The Bill of Rights would reaffirm the responsibilities of both students and staff, and would make clear that everyone had a right to work in schools that were safe, orderly and drug free, where discipline codes were clear and consequences were enforced.

And to bring about these new reforms, he said a “grand bargain” needed to be struck between tax payers, teachers, the Bermuda Union of Teachers, parents, students, Government and the business community. And he said in their part, tax payers would agree to increase the wages of school teachers.

He added: “The teachers, for their part, would have to agree to world scale work effort and efficiency. And, at least another 20 days would be added to the school year. Teacher certification and re-certification is obligatory.

“The BUT...they will have to agree to entire new terms of employment for their members. Government would have to agree to cut unnecessary administrative jobs. The funding goes where schools want it to go. Radically expanded funding for teacher training and development is a must.”

And as for students, they would have to commit to learn, and parents would have to commit to an intensive reading programme with their children, as well as supporting the school.

Turning to public libraries, Mr. Smith said he believed too few people in Bermuda were members of a library and he said he doubted that it was because everyone preferred to buy their books, rather than borrow them. He said comparisons should be carried out with other wealthy jurisdictions similar to Bermuda and he said Government should do more to encourage young people to join their nearest library.

On the issue of the Bermuda College, Mr. Smith said he was astounded the Stonington Beach Hotel was being transferred to the Tourism Ministry. He asked whether the $2.2 million college deficit, which has been labelled a “debt” by the Ministry and is said to have come about due to losses at the hotel, was in fact a debt and owed to other businesses or organisations, or whether it was just a deficit in the college's budget. And he also said he would have liked more detail on what was happening at the college, which courses were being axed, how many staff would be lost, and what would happen when few freshmen arrived there in the next two years due to changes to the school leaving age.

Government backbencher Dale Butler commended Education Minister Paula Cox on her efforts, and said due to the work of the past three years, he believed progress was now being made in the system, and public confidence was growing.

He said the issue of safety at schools had now become a priority, where in years gone by, he said, it was ignored.

And he said he believed the emphasis on literacy would greatly benefit Bermuda. He mentioned teacher and principal development and training, improvements to school buildings, and the imminent Code of Conduct as playing major roles in enhancing the public schools.

He said: “Government has placed priority on ensuring that our students have everything necessary for success. The Minister has done a thorough job in indicating to the Bermuda public why we have to spend this large amount of money for the future of Bermuda. If we have parents on board, we can develop a first class education system.”

Ms Cox gave her response to some of the criticisms and said safety improvements were being made in all aspects of school plants, not just to fire safety, and said principals and teachers had seen fire safety as being of particular importance.

And she said while she appreciated comments from Mr. Smith about her good reputation as Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, she said it was important to recognise there was no “Messiah” of education.

She said: “I have nothing unless people are prepared to come together.”