The Education Act 1996 is the most significant piece of legislation on the education front in decades, its sponsor on Monday.

Education and Human Affairs Minister Jerome Dill made this claim at the beginning of the debate on the bill which will repeal the 1954 Act and replace it with a new one.

Mr. Dill said he had tried unsuccessfully to work with the PLP on the issue because he said: "If there is any area that should be non-political then it should be education.'' Mr. Dill paid homage to members of the Education Planning Team, which had paved the way for the restructuring. He said the thrust of restructuring was to provide equal opportunity of a first-class education to all Bermudians.

The aim was to ensure that not a single child fell below a certain threshold.

"My own mission is this: I believe we ought to create a public education system at least as good as the very best the private education system has to offer.'' Mr. Dill said the Act set out a framework for a restructured system of preschools, primary schools, middle schools and senior schools.

"The significance of the introduction of middle schools cannot be overemphasised.'' A major problem with the current system was the transition between the nurturing environment at primary level to the tougher one of secondary schools.

Sometimes the transition was traumatic for youngsters, said Mr. Dill.

Middle schools would cater for those in the 10-14 age range -- adolescents in the most difficult period of their lives.

"You can recognise how traumatic it can be for an 11-year-old to come into contact with a 17-year-old,'' he said. "Children between 10 and 14 have a lot more in common with each other than with those at the opposite ends of the spectrum.'' Mr. Dill said middle schools would be geared to deal with youngsters at an awkward period in their lives.

Children would then progress to two senior schools -- Prospect and Berkeley Institute.

They would have a choice of either school.

"When one school is oversubscribed then the choice will be by random selection.'' He added: "There are going to be five middle schools which have 18 primary schools organised into zones.

"Primary schools will act as feeder schools to the middle schools.'' Mr. Dill said the 11-plus exam would be eliminated.

Too often, those who failed the exam lost their way in the education system; they went on to schools they did not wish to attend.

"Eleven is too young to be branded a failure,'' said Mr. Dill.

In contrast, the top 20 to 30 percent of academic children were creamed off in the past by Berkeley or Warwick Academy.

"The effect of that was quite negative.'' Mr. Dill said the curriculum in the restructured system would include a heavy emphasis on technology.

Business studies, design and technology, information technology, maths and sciences were among the subjects proposed.

At the five middle schools, the curriculum would be exactly the same.

"Business studies are going to be included for the first time.'' Mr. Dill said the Ministry would also be obliged to provide instruction for children of compulsory school age who had been expelled.

And he said school boards would be set up which would increase parental involvement in children's education.

Shadow Education Minister Jennifer Smith said the Education Act had been a long time coming.

And it was not entirely worth the wait.

She said the PLP and Bermudians were still in the dark over many critical parts of the restructuring process.

Ms Smith said the PLP had been calling for the compulsory school age to be lowered to four.

And she said the party believed in the importance of preschools in preparing children for school.

It was crucial that all preschools offered the same foundation.

"The Ministry could have taken the opportunity to let schools come under them, not the Health Ministry. We have yet to separate day care centres from preschools.'' Ms Smith said pre-school education provided youngsters with a head start.

Children should not be prevented from attending them through lack of places.

"Until there are enough Government preschools Government should provide grant and aid to provide schools for parents unable for lack of space to get in a public preschool. This would take away current discrimination.'' Ms Smith questioned the zoning for primary schools.

"We do not know what zones we will have.'' Currently Bermuda was in a farcical position where five-year-olds had to travel by bus to attend a school -- even though there was a school near their home.

"We need to see how the Minister will design zones for primary education before we can agree with them.'' Ms Smith said the PLP agreed with the concept of middle schools.

But she wondered why primary schools -- designed to act as feeder schools -- were not identified in the bill.

On discipline, Ms Smith said the PLP believed in peer mediation and conflict resolution.

"It is surprising the Minister has not tabled the Code of Conduct,'' she said.

Ms Smith said previous Education Ministers had recommended the abolition of corporal punishment.

In fact, Clarence Terceira had sent back a draft Code of Conduct because it was too punitive and contained corporal punishment.

Now, lo and behold, the Code of Conduct had been published -- and corporal punishment was still in it! The Ministry, said Ms Smith, should not be sending out the message that it was all right to strike out if you were angry.

On dealing with drug abuse, Ms Smith questioned why the Act and the Code of Conduct suggested different approaches.

"Which supersedes the other?'' Ms Smith said the proposed school boards should be made up of elected representatives reflecting the neighbourhood.

And she questioned the amount of power vested in the Minister.

"The Minister has total control of the boards and yet the Minister tonight says parents will have more input,'' said Ms Smith.

Ms Smith went on to say the PLP believed in the importance of teaching moral values and character education at schools.

Studies had showed such teaching improved children's performance at school.

Ms Smith also asked what yardstick the Minister would use for determining appropriate standards for graduating.

When a youngster graduated, he should have achieved something; a school leaving certificate was not enough.

Ms Smith continued by asking why religious instruction was not included in the Act.

She also touched on the attendance of children at school, and asked how Government checked this.

Ms Smith said it appeared the board of education's activities would be diminished by the bill.

What was the purpose of the board if the Minister was given so much power as to make a mockery of it? Government backbencher and former Education Minister Clarence Terceira said he had tabled a draft of the bill a year ago in a bid to get public input.

"It is important that the bill more or less in its present form be allowed to proceed, he said.

Dr. Terceira agreed with Ms Smith on the importance of providing a preschool education to all children.

Dr. Terceira said the success Bermudians were having on the CAT tests, showed that the island's public and private schools were working.

The former Education Minister said the Middle School concept would be a key ingredient in the integration of the Island with students converging on one school in their area.

He said the restructured system will appeal to both academic and non academic children.

Dr. Terceira said the need for drug testing was a sad commentary on our community.

Government he said handled all of the Island's special needs children because the private schools do not accept them.

Fortunately he said the old days of segregating the special needs children from the rest of the student pool are over.

Dr. Terceira said the costs of having special needs children in the school population was three times that of the regular child at $26,000 compared to $7,500.

He said it was unfortunate that more parents did not take advantage of the screening for two-year-olds. As a result many of the children most in need of the service do not get seen because the programme is a voluntary one.

Ottiwell Simmons (PLP) said the Education Act 1996 dealt with the entire education system.

He said that Health, Safety and Education were the fundamental areas that if taken care of society will advance.

If these are not met he said decadence will be the result.

Mr. Simmons said that Education must be inclusive with parents, teachers and administrators working together and seeking consensus.

He pointed to the ongoing issue over the proposal to use Dellwood as a middle school against the expressed wishes of the parents as an example that which showed that Government does not listen to the people.

Shadow Youth and Sport Minister Nelson Bascome said he was struck that no young people had been involved in putting together the bill.

"We want our young people to be leaders. It is at this juncture they should be included. Their input is very important.'' Mr. Bascome said peer mediation was a good course for dealing with discipline problems.

It was paying rich dividends in the United States, he added.

Mr. Bascome continued by posing the question: What are children learning? He said it was important for schools to be equipped with books about Bermuda's history, including slavery.

Learning history was a good way of not making the same mistakes of the past.

Mr. Bascome wondered how prepared Bermuda was for middle schools.

Whitney Institute, for instance, was nowhere near ready to being brought into the middle school concept, he said.

Mr. Bascome went on to highlight the need for 16-year-olds to remain interested in education. Otherwise there was danger of them hanging around on the walls.

"We have to turn the 16-year-old on.'' The problem of truancy also had to be tackled, said Mr. Bascome. He suggested programmes be set up to deal with it.

Shadow Minister of Legislative Affairs & Women's Issues Lois Browne Evans said it was a sad commentary on Government that so many people had lost confidence in the public school system.

She said she read with dismay about the number of parents deciding to educate their children at home.

"Over the years a disrespect has crept in for the management of the education system.'' Mrs. Browne Evans said Bermuda had to spend more time and resources on ensuring children remained interested in learning.

Why were private schools proving so much more popular than public ones? Was it the ratio of students to teachers? Was it the substance of what was being taught? Or was it the method of teaching? Mrs. Browne Evans said the reasons needed to be investigated.

On special needs children, she said she hoped the necessary equipment and resources would be devoted to them.

It was right for these children to be integrated in the education system.

Mrs. Browne Evans also touched on corporal punishment, saying she did not believe in brutalising children.

Education Minister Jerome Dill said he had invited his Shadow counterpart Jennifer Smith eight months ago to participate in the restructuring process.

At the time, he said, Ms Smith declined, saying she wanted the opportunity in Parliament to debate the bill, as was her right under the Westminster system.

Now, however, Ms Smith indicated she intended bringing forward many amendments to the legislation, said Mr. Dill.

He added this was the first he had heard about the amendments.

Mr. Dill went on to address some of the concerns raised during the debate.

"I was asked why I did not want to get into the Code of Conduct. That is because we are debating the Education Act.'' On Opposition concerns about corporal punishment, Mr. Dill said it was infrequently meted out.

"There is no movement to increase corporal punishment in schools. It is merely reserved as an option for principals.'' Mr. Dill agreed with Ms Smith that moral and character building courses in schools were a good idea.

But he disagreed with her claim that school leaving certificates were useless.

"The school leaving certificate celebrates the good a child has achieved.'' Mr. Dill said recent reports about 200 children being educated at home were "grossly exaggerated''.

He said Government did make checks to ensure children of compulsory school age were in attendance. And such monitoring was done with the help of birth certificates.

Mr. Dill went on to say Ms Smith was incorrect to say religious instruction was not included in the bill.

Religious instruction was covered in the bill by social studies, he said.

Mr. Dill then sparked fury on the Opposition benches by taking Mr. Simmons to task for allegedly claiming private education should be swept away.

Mr. Simmons and other Opposition MPs objected that no such allegation had been made.

Mr. Dill continued, however, by saying he wanted public education to be at least as good as the best schooling offered in the private sector.

On discipline, Mr. Dill said he agreed with those who supported peer mediation.

"I believe I will be making an exciting announcement on this.'' The House then went into committee to discuss the bill clause by clause.

Ms Smith began putting forward a host of amendments.

The first amendment read: "The Minister shall use the powers and resources at his disposal to develop the moral, intellectual, cultural and physical development of the people of Bermuda by ensuring that appropriate educational facilities, resources and programmes are made available to meet the needs of persons in Bermuda.'' It was defeated 18 votes to 15 on a straight split on party lines. Some members were not in the House at the time.

She said the bill did not recognise the effect of truancy in Bermuda's schools.

Ms Smith said that the current practice is for guidance counsellors or principals to do the job of truant officers and this was not good enough.

The Shadow Education Minister said that the aim of the Education Act 1996 is to provide the students of Bermuda with a high school education as the absolute minimum achievement.

She said the there was no penalty set out if they did not secure their child's attendance at school.

And there was similarly no recourse if the Minister does not fulfil his duty.

Ms Smith said the Appeals Tribunal should be elected and more broadly based instead of the current practice of appointment by the Governor on advice of the Premier.

The Shadow Education Minister said the Dellwood parents had shown an unparalleled commitment to their children in their protest of the school becoming a Middle School in 1997.

Mr. Dill said that restructuring the Island's school system was complicated and the overwhelming question was what was in the best interest of all children.

He said he respected the thoughts and opinions of the Dellwood parents but in the end Government's plan was the best that could be devised in the circumstances.

Mr. Dill said elected school boards would become unnecessarily political and the idea behind the appointment of members of the school boards was to get people who were non partisan.

The Education Amendment Act 1996 was then passed.