Truancy officers have no place in Bermuda or anywhere else at this time, Education Minister Jerome Dill has charged.

Bringing members of the Bermuda Human Resource Association up to date on education reform during their annual general meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Dill said many argued that the reason the Island had a truancy problem was because there were no truancy officers.

But the days of a big man walking around neighbourhoods looking for youngsters who should be in school were gone, he stressed.

"That is not Bermuda of 1997 or anywhere else in the world,'' Mr. Dill told those gathered at The Princess Hotel's Adam's Lounge.

"Our young people want to be in school if they have an engaging curriculum.'' Such a curriculum was to be offered under the restructured school system, he added.

He noted that after five years in development a middle school curriculum was fully in place. And Mr. Dill said students were receptive to it because it was relevant to their experiences.

In addition to focussing on multiculturalism, Bermuda's middle school curriculum included business studies, he pointed out.

"We are the only jurisdiction on the face of the earth which mandates that 11 to 14 year olds are going to study business,'' he said. "This does not just mean international business. This includes tourism and the hospitality industry as a whole.

"We have determined that we would create a curriculum which is going to be relevant to that young person's experience both locally and abroad.'' A modified version of the senior school curriculum was also expected to be introduced next year, Mr. Dill said. The final form of that curriculum should be fully in place in 1999.

"Our focus is not so much preparing our people for a certain career, but is on teaching our young people how to learn,'' the Minister stressed.

"Young people are preparing themselves in school for jobs which do not exist.'' Noting that Bermuda -- following the Education Planning Team's recommendation -- eliminated the 11-plus exam which labelled students as successes or failures at an early age, Mr. Dill said: "The middle school does away with any form of selection other than geographic.'' "When we talk about creation of middle schools we need to focus on creation of an environment which is nurturing, engaging, and relevant to the young person,'' he added.

Inclusion of children with different academic abilities and special children into the same schools was also working well, he reported.

This was done, he explained, because Government was committed to "providing a genuine first-class education to all of our people''.

In addition to focussing on staff training, he pointed out that Government had spent $6 million on upgrading middle schools "in a matter of weeks'', had granted CedarBridge Academy facilities which were "better than any other school on the Island'', and planned to do the same for Berkeley Institute.

Jerome Dill