Education Minister Milton Scott last night said it was wrong to compare the graduation figures of private and public education after principals reported an impressive year for independent schools.

Almost all of the 16- and 17-year-olds in a position to graduate from the five private schools on the Island did so this summer -- and many walked away with special honours.

At Bermuda High School for Girls, all 39 pupils in the fifth year graduated, eight of them with honours.

An impressive 66 out of 67 made the grade from Saltus Grammar School -- 12 of them with distinction and 33 with honours. Warwick Academy got 63 out of a possible 64 pupils through graduation, eight of them with honours.

Of the 38 students in the last year at Mount Saint Agnes, 35 received graduation marks, 12 of them with honours.

At Bermuda Institute, 34 out of 36 passed, six with honours.

Principals said they were delighted with the high marks and said the students deserved to be congratulated on their efforts.

Dan Blagg, director of development at Saltus Grammar School, said: "The class of 2000 was distinguished by very high academic performances.

"It was an above-average year, there is no doubt about that.'' However, Bermuda's public school system did not fair so well in similar results this year.

In July, The Royal Gazette reported how only 76 percent of those people able to graduate this year did so -- a four percent drop on last year.

Of the 313 pupils who did graduate from public schools, only 12 did so with honours by obtaining a point average of 3.5, which is equivalent to a B-plus average over five years.

Although the education department admitted there was room for improvement, it said the pass rate in public schools had gradually gone up during the last ten years and was much the same as other jurisdictions and countries, including the US.

Education Minister Milton Scott last night said he was impressed by the results of the private schools, but said it was unfair to compare the two.

He added: "I would commend these students -- they appear to have done an excellent job.

"We could never compete with this type of record because we get all kinds of students and we keep them in school, no matter how they perform and what standard they are. We don't put them out.

Minister: There's no comparison between private and public schools "We have special needs students, and people who are impaired in some way, these are our challenges.

"I would be interested to know how many of the students were not allowed to continue in their private school because they were not considered to be meeting the grade. Those children then come into the public education system.

"I don't think we are comparing apples with apples here.'' He also questioned why so many parents felt the need to pull their children out of private schools on the Island choosing instead to send them to schools abroad.

The Minister said the graduation results from private schools would not reflect the intake each school had originally taken for that year group.

Roy Napier, new principal of Bermuda High School for Girls, said no pupil was told to leave the school because of poor results, although a very small number may choose to leave before graduation, as in the public system.

Warwick Academy said they, too, never insisted pupils transfer elsewhere for failing to meet the grade.

Gabriel Rodriguez, Deputy Principal at Warwick Academy, said the good results were similar to previous years and only to be expected.

He said: "To be honest, we were not expecting anything less. People come here and we expect them to graduate. We have certain graduation criteria and they know that they must meet them.'' Former headteacher and Government MP Dale Butler said he had been quite impressed with the 76 percent pass rate for public schools this summer, but said he would expect results at private schools to be better.

Mr. Butler added: "It's a well-known fact that private schools have traditionally higher graduation results.

"They have traditionally taken in those students who arrive at the school with a strong language base and whose parents are focused totally on their education.

"I would say for public schools we would have to look at whether or not there has been an improvement in the last ten years, and then whether or not there are improvements in the years ahead.'' Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith congratulated all students who had graduated this year.

But he added: "I hope the first reaction of those in public education is not one of excuses.

"The reality is that there is a recipe that's working in our private system and we should be trying to emulate it.

"I suspect the ingredients are parental involvement, strict discipline and a system of accountability for teachers and principals.'' The Royal Gazette reported earlier this year how Bermuda had one of the highest rates of children attending private schools, with about 35 percent of youngsters having paid-for education.