The Permanent Secretary of Education admitted there are flaws in the system but said students would also have to be more accountable.

At a Hamilton Rotary meeting yesterday Rosemary Tyrell said an independent review currently underway would highlight the flaws but added the public had done a disservice to Bermuda's youth by mollycoddling them.

She said: "We have become somewhat prosperous and we have not shown them what it takes, what needs to be done to get there and make a success of yourself.

"I think we have done them a disservice by giving them too much and not expecting them to work for it.

"We have to go back to basic upbringing."

She added that parents needed to instil the importance of all jobs in society and said not every student could be a doctor or lawyer but that all jobs needed to be seen as respectable.

She did acknowledge that society was only partially to blame and said: "I stand here before you, being fully transparent, yes there are a lot of flaws in our education system.

"As the Minister said, no matter which way you look at it, there is a long way to go before we can be proud of public education in Bermuda."

"The future will mean more parental support programmes, a stronger emphasis on internal and external communications, a more rigorous enforcement of standards and stronger and earlier interventions for those students who are lagging behind."

Mrs. Tyrell said change was already underway and pointed to the new, more accountable, way of calculating graduation rates ? tracking students from S1 till they leave school instead of just students who begin senior year ? as proof the Ministry of Education was committed to change.

She also said incomplete schedules led to many students failing to graduate, with 45 percent of students in S4 not taking a full class load or required credits in 2006. This year only five percent of students in S4 did not take a full course load. Attendance was another area she said the Ministry was determined to tackle, even if it meant holding the parents as well as the student accountable.

The Ministry would also ensure that all schools were following a uniformed curriculum, particularly the new literacy collaborative, she said. Another change will be the annual Performance Standard assessments, which will be administered to P3 through S2 students.

The assessments will enable the Ministry to properly gauge the level of education students are receiving. The first assessment begins in May. Students will be evaluated in English, maths, science and social studies.

Mrs. Tyrell said while there were many flaws in the public education system the changes they had already made and areas highlighted in the review currently happening would point the Ministry in the right direction.

She said: "The independent review will I expect involve a total reengineering of the system.

"The recommendations made by the review may not be popular with some but we want what is best for the students."