Government has been told to stop attacking the messenger and show some leadership and collective responsibility.

United Bermuda Party Senator Kim Swan at the end of the Senate session on Monday said Government needed to take a stand collectively and hold itself up to a higher standard.

He said concerns about the new Berkeley Institute should not be deflected by attacking those asking the questions.

The failure of school children from primary age upwards needed to be addressed, more so than the creation of an ?ivory tower? he said.

?Whether it is $26m or $52m (overbudget) it makes no difference. The real difference is that, when it comes to the secondary school on Berkeley Road, you don?t need an ivory tower to make education work. Because the real tragedy is from P6 to M1 we have failures, year after year. We have students coming out of primary school that are going to middle school and failing.

?The real tragedy is that the Government has allowed itself to concentrate on shooting the messenger rather than allowing it to be accountable. It is failing the students by not concentrating on the education.?

He accused the Government of only being interested in ?spending money to buy votes and shooting the messenger in the process?.