A cross-party parliamentary committee reviewing how educational reform is being implemented in the wake of the Hopkins Report wants to hold its meetings in public, its chairman said yesterday.

Government MP Neletha Butterfield, who is heading the bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Education, told a press conference that members were determined to be "accountable and transparent".

Asked if that meant opening up meetings to the public and press, she said: "We are considering that and I'd like to inform you that due to the rules and regulations of the Houses of Parliament we can't hold the meetings in public, but we have requested to the Speaker of the House that if he can call the committee up to the House together we can waive those rules."

Shadow Education Minister and committee member Grant Gibbons said the issue had been the first point of discussion among members and "there was a fair amount of sympathy around the table".

The committee's next meeting is in a week and it could be held in public if Speaker Stanley Lowe agrees to the committee's request, according to Ms Butterfield. "It's up to the Speaker of the House to call in the committee members," she said.

This newspaper's A Right To Know: Giving People Power campaign has called for parliamentary committees to meet in public.

In June the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee recommended that the Bermuda Government strengthen its transparency measures by ending the practice of House of Assembly committees sitting behind closed doors.

The education select committee has been tasked with ensuring that ten key recommendations in the damning Hopkins report on public schools are implemented by Government.

Yesterday it received updates on improving teaching and principal leadership from Henry Johnson, consultant executive officer for education, and acting education permanent secretary Radell Tankard.

Ms Butterfield said the committee would continue to gather information from stakeholders with the aim of delivering a report to Parliament when it reconvenes in November.

Mr. Lowe could not be contacted for comment.