MPs on both sides of the House were in agreement that technical education at Bermuda College needs to be improved to help more young Bermudians into jobs.

Speaking during the Motion to Adjourn on Friday, United Bermuda Party MP Grant Gibbons opened the debate on the college, where former senator Larry Mussenden was appointed chairman this week.

Dr. Gibbons, who was formerly on the board at the college, said: ?I?m very concerned about the college. The college has a really important role to play.

?The issues of both professional and technical education are very important.

?There?s been a clear shift in the type of jobs that are available in this community. There?s been a shift in sophistication in what employers are looking for.

?The college is not providing the kind of programmes that young people need to be able to get out and find opportunities. There?s no vision at the college.?

Dr. Gibbons said the college was being undermined by the lack of continuity in its leadership.

He said: ?What we have is the appointment of yet another chairman of the college. As we know, there have now been four chairmen so far this year. You sort of wonder how long this one will last.

?Mr. (Randy) Horton (Education Minister) may be hoping that the appointment of a new chairman will give him a bit of time as a minister.?

Mr. Horton agreed Bermuda College needed to focus on improving its technical education.

He said: ?This Government recognises the deficiency in technical education. You will see the investment that is necessary to improve technical education in schools and at Bermuda College.

?We need to have the public and parents appreciate that technical education is still important.?

Mr. Horton said he was confident improvements would be made. ?The intention to provide quality education which includes technical education at Bermuda College will be addressed,? he said. ?We will see an improvement in technical education at Bermuda College.?

Next to speak was Shadow Education Minister Neville Darrell, who agreed there had not been enough continuity at the college. He said: ?We have had so much change in terms of leadership that it?s drifted all over the place.

?The Government is involved in a game of musical chairs at Bermuda College. That?s undermining the efficiency of the only tertiary institution in the country.

?They need to take seriously the notion of training Bermudians. Their record over eight years is that public education doesn?t mean much to them.?

Progressive Labour Party MP Terry Lister, a former education minister, said morale at the college was harmed by negative reports in the media.

He said: ?In eight years we have been in Government, this is the third time the college has come under attack.

?Every time, there?s been disgruntled people at the college that have run to the press and caused trouble.

?It?s terrible for the morale of the students and terrible for the morale of the teachers. Non-issues have been allowed to take the focus of the college.

?We hear tonight that the college has no standards. Are we forgetting that the college, year after year after year, develops students that go to university??

Mr. Lister then changed subject, stating that international companies in Bermuda were not doing enough to combat racism. He said just two percent of people in management jobs in the country were black.

Mr. Lister said: ?Racism must be removed from Bermuda and must certainly be removed from the workplace.

?Some members of the public feel this Government has moved too slowly on the issue of racism.

?What we have tried to do is to be balanced and fair to give companies time to get their acts together. ?I?m very disappointed with international companies and their development.

?Is there anybody in this country who believes that when you get the best minds together, two percent of them are black??

He said that too many companies had a ?we won?t do it? attitude. Mr. Lister criticised international business leader David Ezekiel?s recent trip to London, stating workers should be found in Bermuda instead.

He added: ?What will it take before they understand that this country belongs to all of us?

?At a time when the six-year rule is on the horizon, one would expect favourable working environment for black workers, but instead we see Mr. Ezekiel going off to London.

?What?s he going to London for? The people are here! Hire them, develop them, make them your own.

?We are too nice in Bermuda. Everybody says good morning, everybody says good night, and toots their car in the road.

?I don?t want us to stop being nice, but I want those who can make a difference to make a difference.?

Continuing the race debate, Opposition House Leader John Barritt pointed to statistics he claimed showed that the figures were distorted by high numbers of white non-Bermudians in management jobs.

Citing research from the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) from 2004-05, Mr. Barritt said 508 black Bermudians were in senior management jobs, compared to 503 white Bermudians.

However, he was shouted down by members of the public gallery when he stated: ?If you look at those numbers, you can see where the disparity occurs ? it occurs with non-Bermudians.?

Opposition MP Trevor Moniz also spoke on CURE?s Annual Review of the Workforce Survey Report and accused the organisation of polarizing the black and white members of the community. He took issue with the language contained in a recent press statement issued by the Minister of Community and Cultural Affairs, Wayne Perinchief, which summarised the contents of the report.

?Last week when the Honourable Minister of Community and Cultural Affairs spoke one of the interesting statements in his release is that he said that while the number of black executives had increased, the numbers of mixed and all other races of executives outside of white or black had decreased, but there is no examination of that fact.

?Further down on page 4 he says these gains for blacks have had no impact on the levels of white executives, who may or may not be Bermudian, and additionally have resulted in a loss of representation for ethnic minorities.

?I said to the Minister ?who are the ethnic minorities? and the Minister said, ?well you know I expect that means black people? and I said, ?no, they don?t.?

?It is confusing because it shows the muddle thinking coming out of CURE going into the press release and raises more questions than it answers.

?So when you say the number of mixed and others have been reduced then I would think that anyone who had previously described themselves as mixed all of a sudden would say, ?hey is it better for me to call myself black here??

?But my point here is that I think we are making a big mistake and the effect of CURE and the effect of these statements has a polarizing effect.

?I think it is unfortunate and I think this government is short changing itself in not taking credit for progress, but instead trying to polarise the electorate for an election and saying the situation is terrible.

?The truth is that great strides have been made. Is there more to be done? Yes.

?Could we be more inclusive about ethnic minorities? The answer is yes, because it is clear here that we are getting polarised. It could be because the members of that side don?t see themselves as representing the whole community. They are representing a certain ethnic group. I implore them to broaden their base and broaden their appeal.?

Opposition MP Maxwell Burgess raised the issue of the controversy surrounding the election of Hamilton Mayor Sutherland Madeiros, who has been accused of election interference by certain aldermen and councillors.

Mr. Burgess urged the Government to keep a ?watching brief? on the situation.

?I along with other members of this House vote every year to give taxpayers money to that organisation (The Corporation of Hamilton), and it is in that context that we can?t sit back and say nothing.

?It is in that context that I think we should do something. I think we should keep a watching brief because ultimately it is the tax dollars for whom you give the Corporation and we should ensure that the money is safe and in good hands,? he said.

Mr. Burgess also spoke on Technical Education in Bermuda and praised a recent public workshop that examined the subject. He said it was time for the community, especially members of the black community, to encourage young people to work in the trade industry.

He said: ?I am encouraging all of Bermuda, the black community in particular, to realise that the time has come that we must say that there is a life of dignity and respect in the trades.?