Education Minister Randy Horton announced yesterday that the school leaving age is likely to be raised to 18 in a bid to ensure all students stay in education long enough to graduate.

He announced the proposal at a press conference after releasing the dates of a series of meetings he plans to have with parents, students, principals, teachers and Ministry of Education officials.

The meetings — three of them to be held in public — are aimed at updating "stakeholders" on changes planned for public schools following last year's highly critical Hopkins report.

Mr. Horton said those attending would be told of a number of amendments planned for the Education Act, including raising the mandatory school leaving age from 16 to 18 and giving the education board more power.

Mr. Horton said: "Now, once a child goes 16, they can leave. We want to make sure that they all stay long enough to graduate. There is not a great percent of students that graduate before they are 16."

The Minister was asked if the idea was to reduce youth crime by keeping youngsters occupied. He said: "Certainly, we hope that that will help in that way. The important thing is improving the quality of teaching and learning at schools."

Mr. Horton said the idea of the meetings was to fulfil his pledge to the public to keep them informed of the progress of promised education reform.

Government pledged to bring about improvements after UK professor David Hopkins and his team carried out a review of public schools early last year and concluded that the system was on the "brink of meltdown".

The forthcoming meetings are being held in conjunction with the interim education board set up to help implement the experts' recommendations.

They will be hosted by Mr. Horton, acting education Permanent Secretary Radell Tankard and consultant executive officer Henry Johnson.

The Minister said: "I am looking forward to meeting with the principals, teachers, administrators, unions and the public; providing them with the answers to the questions they have as we move to restructure our system; and indeed listening to any suggestions they may have. I believe true substantive reform can only be achieved if we work together."

He said those attending the meetings would hear more about the role of the education board, the concept of "cluster schools", a system-wide accountability programme and benchmarking standards.

The issue of how students are suspended and excluded from schools will also be explored, as well as the new structure planned for the Ministry of Education and improving principal leadership.

Mr. Horton also spoke about claims from the Bermuda Union of Teachers that classes were being left uncovered due to staff absences.

Union leader Mike Charles shared internal memos with The Royal Gazette — as reported yesterday — showing how one school had three classes uncovered on two consecutive days this month.

Mr. Horton urged Mr. Charles to share with the Ministry the name of the school. "We have not had a principal yet say that we have classes that are not covered," he said.

"I say to Mr. Charles stand up and give us the real word. Don't use the press to attack the Ministry. If he is interested in children he'll let us know exactly what the school was and we'll get into that school and fix it."

Public forums on education:

Monday, May 12, 6 p.m: St. James Church Hall, Middle Rd, Sandys.

Tuesday, May 13, 6 p.m: World Heritage Centre, Penno's Wharf, St. George's.

Wednesday, May 14, 6 p.m: Cathedral Hall, Church Street, Hamilton.

School meetings:

Monday, April 28, 4.30 p.m: Dellwood Middle School for teachers from Dellwood, the Berkeley Institute, the Child Development Centre, St. John's Preschool, Victor Scott Primary, Northlands Primary and West Pembroke Primary.

Tuesday, April 29, 4 p.m: T.N. Tatem Middle School for teachers from T.N. Tatem, St. Paul's Preschool, Warwick Preschool, Paget Primary, Purvis Primary and Gilbert Institute.

Wednesday, April 30, 4 p.m: Sandys Secondary Middle School for teachers from Sandys, Lagoon Park Preschool, Southampton Preschool, Port Royal Primary, Somerset Primary, Dalton E. Tucker Primary School, West End Primary and Heron Bay Primary.

Monday, May 5, 4 p.m: Whitney Institute Middle School for teachers from Whitney, CedarBridge Academy, Dame Majorie Bean Hope Academy, Devonshire Preschool, Prospect Preschool, Elliott Primary, Harrington Sound Primary and Prospect Primary.

Tuesday, May 6, 4 p.m: Clearwater Middle School for teachers from Clearwater, Lyceum Preschool. St. David's Preschool, St. George's Preschool, Francis Patton Primary, East End Primary, St. David's Primary and St. George's Primary.

Other meetings:

Friday, April 25, 2 p.m: Salvation Army Hamilton Citadel for the Association of School Principals.

Friday, April 25, 3.30 p.m: Ministry of Education for Bermuda Public Service Union.

Monday, April 28, 9 a.m: Salvation Army Hamilton Citadel for Ministry of Education staff.

Monday, April 28, 3 p.m: Ministry of Education for Bermuda Union of Teachers.