authority or teachers, said Dellwood Primary principal Mr. Dale Butler.

The roots of violence, he said, were not within the schools but sprouted from parental neglect and an erosion of values.

"Schools still do not have anything to do with the causes of violence when children arrive at our door with anger and frustrations,'' he said.

Meanwhile teachers, bereft of the disciplinary tools they once had, felt increasingly helpless.

"We don't really know what to do,'' Mr. Butler said. "We are so afraid of hurting their (students') self-esteem that the kids are running riot.'' But while he did not anticipate disciplinary problems at the Senior High School at Prospect, he expressed hope that alternative education would be provided for the "five to seven'' disruptive students found in any school, to keep them away from the mainstream of students keen to learn.

At present, soft disciplinary standards meant parents were turning to private schools that boasted strict standards of behaviour.

"But,'' protested Mr. Butler, "I can't understand why, if they can have that standard in private schools, we can't have it in public schools?'' The over abundance of programmes aimed at counselling, mediating and helping students was detracting from the crucial task of educating them.

"We are now doing too much,'' he said. "We need to get on with the job of teaching. We need to focus in on a few things and academia is one of them.'' Nevertheless, he gave a positive report on Bermuda's public schools to date.

They were not out of control, he said. Test scores were one place ahead of the United States, teachers were evaluated and principals would be too in September. Guidance counsellors informed students about available jobs, pointed them toward good colleges and prompted them to achieve good grade point averages. Furthermore Bermuda had more well-qualified teachers than anywhere else in the world.

"We have everything in place,'' he said.

Then so why, he asked, was there an increasing number of young Bermudians graduating from little known US colleges that accepted virtually anyone? The result was that Bermuda's employers were left with the dilemma of whether to hire Bermudians with mediocre qualifications.

"Bermudianisation is no reason for incompetence,'' he said. "We have to have standards,'' he said.

He also warned the Bermuda College against dropping its entry requirements because Bermudians were failing to attain them.

GOVERNMENT PAY CHEQUES ARE LOST GVT Government pay cheques are lost Thousands of Government pay cheques have gone missing, Police reported yesterday.

The 2,200 Bermuda Government pay cheques were lost on Wednesday between Serpentine Road in Pembroke and the Government Administration Building in Hamilton, Police said in a news release.

The cheques were drawn on Bank of Butterfield account 2001-502211, and had serial numbers from 38501 to 40700. They were light green with a darker green border, Police said.