Public discontent has pressured Government into having the Education Department audited, general secretary of the Bermuda Union of Teachers Sen.

Milton Scott charged yesterday.

Mr. Scott was responding to news that Government was seeking the help of an overseas company to audit the Education Department's practices and policies.

"The Ministry of Education has long felt that it would benefit from an outside look at the educational product delivered to Bermuda's young people, and at the policies and procedures which govern the way that product is delivered,'' Education Minister Jerome Dill said in a statement released yesterday.

"I, too, would be assisted greatly by a completely independent second opinion, so that I can have confidence that we are proceeding in the best way possible, and are giving our efforts to provide high quality education to the young people of Bermuda our very shot. It seems to me to be a sensible and sound management strategy.'' Noting that Government was looking for auditing bodies in the US, Canada and the UK, Mr. Dill said it was important that the auditors come from outside of Bermuda in order to bring "a completely fresh eye to our work''.

He said the auditors should also have "unassailable credentials in the field''.

And Mr. Dill said he expected them "to look into every corner of the educational system'' and to measure educators "not simply against our own aspirations, but also against current best practice elsewhere''.

He added that he expected a curriculum audit team to arrive in Bermuda by February, the audit process to last "some weeks'', and to have a full report by the middle of next year.

But Mr. Scott told The Royal Gazette the teachers' union had called for a complete audit of the education system in 1989.

The request was rejected and instead a board of inquiry into the terms and conditions of teachers' employment was carried out, he said.

"We called for an audit because we were concerned about the Ministry of Education,'' Mr. Scott explained. "We felt that the entire Ministry as well as the Department of Education should be looked at -- its top heaviness, its mandate, its administration.

"The administration is the Ministry's weakest link. It needs an entire review. We've been doing the same things since the 1946 Education Act came about.

"The Minister is basically doing it now because he knows that the public has not bought into his and the two former Education Ministers' restructuring plans.'' Mr. Scott said while he did not believe all aspects of Government's restructuring plans were bad, he believed that the problem rested with those entrusted to carry out the plans.

However, he stressed that an audit into "every aspect'' of the Education Ministry was needed.

Mr. Scott added that the audit should be carried out by more than one person.

And he said he expected that it would take much longer than the time estimated by Mr. Dill.