Lovitta Foggo, the Shadow Minister of Education, has accused the One Bermuda Alliance of failing Bermuda’s schools through a lack of investment.

Ms Foggo issued a statement in response to a series of mini-demonstrations about the state of schools yesterday.

She stated: “The OBA response to the latest protest from teachers, that they are serious about education and consider it priority, is dubious at best when their actions since 2013 don’t match their words.

“The OBA has clearly not put the money where their mouth is. In contrast, they have consistently lowered the budget for education each fiscal year it has been in office, while academic results have not improved and conditions at our schools have been allowed to worsen.

“The Ministry of Education’s actual budgets for fiscal year 2013-14 were $132,713,000, and 2014-15 was $130,197,000. The estimated budget for 2015-16 was $127,130,000 and the estimated budget for this current year is $124,900,000.

“It is important to also note that the budget for school maintenance was slashed by the OBA to the tune of $1.5 million, while the airport development budget leaped by over $2 million. This demonstrates that education is not a top priority for the OBA.

“At the start of the school year, the OBA declared that Bermuda’s public schools were in good stead and ready for operation, yet the facts bear out differently. Schools still have hurricane damage from two years ago.

“Many schools are faced with rodents, roaches and mould. The perennial issue of resources remains unaddressed. The system has once again been faced with a budget that does not even begin to allow principals and their teachers to fix the issues.

“The OBA seems more interested in ducking responsibility than in actually addressing these real issues and real concerns within education. This approach may benefit the OBA, but it leaves our children in the cold, our schools in a mess and the problems unsolved.

“Our students must come first. Education must be top priority. Our students deserve a fighting chance. Bermuda’s future depends on it.”