Government programme, says Labour and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman.

But students will be so motivated as a result of the Compact Programme that most will turn down the jobs and seek further education, Mr. Pearman told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

The programme, under which groups of businesses "adopt'' secondary schools, could be up and running next September, he said.

Under Compact, which was devised in the United States but has also been introduced successfully in the United Kingdom, each school would be adopted by a group of three to five businesses.

The businesses would have different interests -- be they technical, commercial, administrative, or sales -- Mr. Pearman said.

The businesses would send representatives to speak at the schools and invite students to visit and find out how their businesses work.

Upon graduating, each student would be guaranteed a job at one of the businesses, provided they had a good grounding in skills like mathematics, English, and writing, and had a pleasant deportment, Mr. Pearman said.

But most students would be motivated to go on in their studies, and not necessarily in academics, he said.

Mr. Pearman, who also elaborated on a reorganisation of the Labour Ministry that he announced in the House last Friday, said Government wanted to end an academic bias in Bermuda.

As well as students with academic training, "we need bright, committed, hardworking people in trades and crafts,'' he said. In the past, "we've pressured people to do certain things when it was just not part of their mindset.'' As a result, "they've felt a sense of failure. We've got to reverse that.'' Mr. Pearman said he had already discussed the programme with the Chamber of Commerce, but careful organisation would be needed in its set-up. "One has to be careful that you don't get a group of businesses that are considered prime to adopt one school, and those that are less prime to adopt another,'' he said.

Major changes would be made in the Department of Labour and the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs in the next few months, Mr. Pearman said.

The Government Employment Office, formerly at "arms length'', would now be "embraced directly'' by the Department of Labour.

There would be a much closer link between employment requirements, the Labour Department, and the issuance of work permits, he said.

Development of a new Apprenticeship and Training Council would be the Department's responsibility, and a close link would develop with a technical officer in the Education Ministry, Mr. Pearman said.

Through the Labour Advisory Council, the Education technical officer would adjust school curricula to meet employers' needs.

When there was a training requirement attached to employees on work permits, there would be greater assurances the required training programme was set out, and the trainee was performing what was required.

Young people would be eligible to take full-time training courses in specific areas, he said.