Audit of the Bermuda Government Public School System in the House of Assembly yesterday.

The Education Minister said the day's discussion marked a historic occasion.

"It focuses on this Government's commitment to a first class education system for all our children, not just some of our children.'' With this would come equal opportunities for all students, said Mr. Dill.

The education planning team had conducted a vast amount of work and what emerged in their report was a clear sense of direction which subsequently became a plan for the Island's education.

What emerged, he continued, was that members of the public education system were not being adequately catered to.

Drawing criticism from the Minister in particular was the now-abolished 11-plus examination which had help create a selected education system with many ramifications.

Twenty percent of the students were told they would be a success because they did well in the exam and were going to their chosen school.

However the majority were told that because did not get into their chosen school then they were failures.

When Bermuda was booming, this was not a problem, said Mr. Dill as there were plenty of jobs available. That was the case no longer, he added.

Mr. Dill pointed out that Bermuda was successful at the Primary School level but problems came at the Secondary School level hence the decision was made to break this into two segments -- Middle School and Senior School.

These would ensure the focus remained on equality as students would be put in schools according to their geographical neighbourhood.

And once in there they would be the recipient of a standard wide-ranging curriculum which did not allow for disparity between schools.

All students would receive instruction in their core studies for three hours a day while also getting learning about technology, business and family studies.

This background had everything to do with the education audit, said Mr. Dill.

"Unless we audit the education system to give us a clear view of our available resources and where they are deployed, we will go nowhere.'' It came down to accountability, he noted, because education was an area where Government spent a majority of the taxpayers' money.

And he noted: "Young people are not just our future, they are also our present. Be mindful not to fall prey to the idea of a lost generation.'' The nature of the report, said Mr. Dill, was to focus on identifying areas where difficulties arose and to work out ways to assist in their improvement.

This would provide better service for this and future generations, he said.

It was essential to develop a road map and a plan for the clear implementation of the 15 groups of recommendations contained in the report, said Mr. Dill.

There will be three month, three year, five year and seven year plans for putting the recommendations in place, he explained.

And a Cabinet committee had been made responsible for implementing the recommendations within whichever time span they fell.

This committee would hold quarterly press conferences to update the public on their achievements.

Government had already decided that an overwhelming majority of the recommendations were acceptable, he added, and had highlighted those it felt needed to be implemented by September.

These included: developing a standing committee to oversee curriculum and instructional programming; establishing a public relations officer position; de-centralising client-centred services to put them closer to those who need them; moving the Education Officer Early Childhood Services position to report to the Senior Education Officer for Curriculum and Instruction; adding a Behaviour Disorder Education Officer to the Student Services Department; adding the position for a staff development education officer under the Senior Education Officer for Finance, Administration and Personnel; developing and publishing policies and procedures for a curriculum management system; ensuring that all schools use all components of the format for the school improvement plans; directing Ministry staff to establish specific procedures for adopting and implementing programme interventions; requiring that programme intervention requests be made in writing to the Ministry; and establishing a timely process for approval and implementation of proposed interventions.

Implementation of some of these recommendations had already been achieved, added Mr. Dill.

He noted the report auditor had found disparity in the course offerings at different senior schools and traced this back to the selective system that had been in place and was now being revamped.

He also pointed to the issue of high numbers of student retention which had received attention in the media.

This was a two-edged sword he pointed out because you could either let students move on through the grades without receiving the required academic proficiency and release them into the workplace unprepared or you could hold them back -- at the extra cost -- and make sure they reach the necessary academic proficiencies.

And teachers and principals were receiving the development they needed for the new system so they could properly serve the students, he continued.

But Mr. Dill said he was shocked by the auditor's report where it dealt with mentors.

The report stated the positions of six teacher mentors should be eliminated as no data which supported the effectiveness of these positions was studied by the mentors.

Mr. Dill said the mentors coached newly qualified teachers in their first one to three years of teaching which had stopped them from leaving schools when they found teaching "was not what it was all cracked up to be''.

"Far too often we are prepared to discard individuals who have provided a service to the community,'' he said.

Mr. Dill said that Government has taken note of the audit's recommendation that a Public Relations post be established and steps were being taken to bring it about.

Meanwhile the Education Minister said he was surprised that the auditors found that there still existed a large body of "uninformed opinion'' about the restructuring process.

"We appreciate that we need to be accountable and we are accountable,'' he said.

And he pointed out that the Ministry had worked hard to get information about the restructuring process to the public through public meetings and through television programmes.

However he said that he understood that the auditors had made this particular criticism in a genuine attempt to improve the Ministry.

"The purpose of the audit was to ensure that we are operating as effectively and efficiently as possible,'' Mr. Dill said, "and it is a moral imperative to focus on our deficiencies to make the department more efficient and effective.'' Opposition leader Jennifer Smith meanwhile said that the PLP did not look upon education as a "political football''.

She said that there was no need to blame any person in the department for the deficiencies because "the audit itself points enough fingers.'' Ms Smith said that the PLP wanted to see an educational system that motivated teachers, parents and children.

And she disputed her counterpart's surprise that there still were persons ignorant of the restructuring process and recommended that repetition was integral to the process.

Moreover she said that the "stampede from public schools to private schools'' was an indication that some Bermudians did not feel confident in the new school system.

This was a shame she said because many of the more out spoken parents were needed in the public system to help to agitate for change.

"I understand their motivation,'' she said. "But it is our loss when they choose to put their children in private schools.'' Ms Smith said that she hoped that Government "speedily'' adhered to the audit's recommendations so that there can be some rekindling of the public faith in the system.

The Opposition leader said that the auditors acknowledged the veracity of the Education Planning Team's conclusions.

However one aspect -- the recommendations that touched on the Ministry itself -- were never acted upon and this was a mistake she added.

Ms Smith did praise Government's decision to incorporate different teaching styles into the new education system but she said it was important that there also be a method of evaluating how effective this will be.

The Shadow Minister said that it was important to revamp the mentoring programme so that it can work the way it was supposed to.

Health Minister and former Education Minister Clarence Terceira said he was disappointed with the auditors because there were more than 30 inaccuracies in their report.

He pointed out that the report stated that there was no evaluation officer in place.

Had they looked a little further he said, they would have realised that the Department of Education had promoted that person to the post of chief education officer and the department was in the midst of hiring a replacement.

Dr. Terceira also showcased the report's allegation that there was a lack of policy guidelines in the Ministry.

In fact he said there were plenty of enunciated policy documents covering everything from general orders to teacher evaluations.

Dr. Terceira said he understood Mr. Dill's surprise about the amount of ignorance that existed in the community over the restructuring.

He said the job was made all the more difficult because of the steady and constant stream of negative stories and editorials in The Royal Gazette .

Fortunately he said the Editor has turned around and has called on the community to get behind the educational changes.

Paula Cox (PLP) meanwhile said the education audit was a "hefty, bulky'' document.

And she called for increased democratisation of the educational system.

However Ms Cox said that teachers and students needed the infrastructure and tools to ensure that the plan succeeds.

Ms Cox said that it was important that both Berkeley Institute and Cedarbridge Academy received equal treatment from the Ministry.

Moreover she said the need for a Public Relations officer was a good one but it was important that the Ministry communicated as effectively with its own staff as it does with the public.

Ms Cox said that the only success the process will have is when those who are a part of making it all work buy into the process.

And PLP MP Ottiwell Simmons said that he agreed that the focus of the changes in education must be the students so that they can grow up and meet the economic, social and political needs of the society.

Mr. Simmons said that if Bermuda was to have role models, they had to be secured -- not knocked down.

Debate to be continued in Monday's newspaper JEROME DILL -- "Unless we audit the education system to give us a clear view of our available resources and where they are deployed, we will go nowhere.''