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Scott defends testing of P2s

Government Senate Leader and Education Minister Milton Scott defended the Ministry of Education's Terra Nova testing of P2 classes yesterday and was supported by all of the independent Senators.

Sen. Scott commended an article in Wednesday's Royal Gazette in which he and Premier Jennifer Smith condemned the action of Bermuda Union of Teachers general secretary Mike Charles who suggested that if parents were unhappy about their six-year-olds sitting the tests, they should keep them at home.

Sen. Scott said the Island was in the midst of an education reform and said: "We have a state of urgency out there."

He said his aim was to go back to the basics and get things right and highlighted the problems the present Government had inherited from the former Government.

He said that kids graduating in 1998 could not even read and this was the fault of the United Bermuda Party.

Sen. Scott said Government had spent one million dollars each year for the last two years to reduce class sizes and he said another million would spent in the year ahead.

Sen. Scott also said it had spent one million dollars on new text books and the point of the testing was to see if the investment was paying off.

He said: "It is not about labelling students, it is about getting to grips with what is happening", and he said the tests would help to highlight students' strengths and weaknesses.

Independent Senator Walwyn Hughes supported Sen. Scott saying the tests were necessary to make a comparison and this was the only way forward.

He said the tests were important in order to make measurements and he said accountability was all important.

Fellow Independent Senator Jeanette Cannonier commended Sen. Scott for the stand he has taken for education in Bermuda.

She said that over the years there had been a tremendous hue and cry over the poor state of education, but no one had tried to fix it.

She said: "Now we have a Minister who says `yes it is broken and we will try everything to fix it'."

And she asked that everyone in the community give the Minister and his team all of their support to ensure successful future generations.

PLP Senator Michael Scott warned against the dangers of frightening kids who are taking exams and said that scare tactics were detrimental to children's futures in a school environment.

Senate President Alfred Oughton said the Minister had done a first class job.

He said that testing was being done in the interests of the future development of students and that the idea was to find out where weaknesses are and to develop and go forward with that.

Sen. Oughton also labelled the action by Mr. Charles as "irresponsible" and added: "I hope parents take it tongue in check and take their kids to school."

In yesterday's article, Ms Smith said she hoped that Bermuda's young people would not take statements by Mr. Charles as approval for civil disobedience.

She also suggested that teachers might become involved with the National Literacy Initiative to assist young people (and older persons) who, in spite of graduating from the public school system, do not know how to read.