are not being ignored in the face of progress according to Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira .

Dr. Terceira was handed the troubled Ministry in May and yesterday gave a speech close to two hours on its budget for the next year.

But the Ministry came under fire from Shadow Education Minister Ms Jennifer Smith who matched the length of the Minister's speech, giving him no time to reply to her attack, in the four-hour session.

Dr. Terceira said two significant accomplishments during the year had been the opening of the St. Mark's Parish Preschool and gaining of planning permission for the new senior school to be built at Prospect.

He said: "The opening of the new preschool in Smith's means that there is now at least one preschool in every parish and brings the number of preschools up to 12. It means the Government's commitment to have a preschool in every parish has been met.'' The Education Ministry has a pioneering scheme to introduce children with special needs at preschool level. He said the summer preschool programme would include help for children with learning difficulties.

Concerning the planned senior school at Prospect, Dr. Terceira said much work has been done on the design of the school. The school's design will reflect relationships among subjects.

For example, he said: "The instructional area for fine arts and for the areas of technology and cosmetology are located close to the auditorium where productions will be staged. Schools are becoming more project and event driven.

"I have had the pleasure of visiting a number of North American schools where I saw these kinds of inter-relationships, especially those in the traditional industrial arts courses.

"I recognise that it is our responsibility to ensure that our students will be able to compete with students from other countries.'' Turning to curriculum the Minister announced a committee set to looking at ways of changing the curriculum in local schools. He said: "The scope of development in the curriculum includes the entire range from preschool to senior school.

"This approach to curriculum development ensures that the vital link between early education and the success completion at the final stage remains unbroken.'' The closure of the Friendship Vale School in June was the start of an initiative to integrate, "or mainstream,'' children with special needs into traditional schools.

Dr. Terceira has received a report on each of the young people who have moved from Friendship Vale, he said: "That report shows that they are doing well in their new schools.

"Special support has been given to the teachers in these schools by the former principal of Friendship Vale who is now an education officer whose primary responsibility is to oversee the successful integration of those students.'' All school students take three examinations to assess their progress -- the Bermuda Educational Assessment Programme, the California Achievement Test and the Bermuda Secondary School Certificate. Dr. Terceira pointed out that the standard of performance has improved despite the demands of the examinations increasing.

During this week's Jason Project, the Education Minister was welcomed on air by Dr. Robert Ballard, from Belize. The Minister praised the Project.

Primary and Secondary Schools teachers are continuing to train at the Computer Centre. Computers are being replaced at schools so they new software can be used.

The Minister also praised a number of initiatives on a range of subjects in the Ministry during the year.

Moving on to Bermuda College Dr. Terceira pointed out that the Government Blueprint had anticipated completion in 1996. But he warned: "If the buildings at Robert's Avenue are to be vacated two other buildings must be constructed.

"The construction alone should not be taken to imply the completion of all development at the Stonington campus. The College will still need other important facilities such as a performing arts centre and a student residence.'' Shadow Education Minister Ms Jennifer Smith said she had been enthusiastic to reply but the Minister's speech had worn her down "like a stone with water running over it.'' Ms Smith believes the education system is failing young people especially with the Bermuda Secondary Schools Certificate which is often not accepted by Bermuda College. She said it is a "passport to the wall.'' She said standards had been lowered by the examination which told students that getting 30 or 40 percent is all right. Ms Smith said: "If you have high expectations your children live up to them, if you have low expectations your children live down to them.

"Our schools should be able create young people who have a certain level of literacy, who have mastery of certain subjects and who have basic skills.'' Ms Smith congratulated The Royal Gazette on the publication of poems and drawings by young people on Thursdays. She said: "These young people will have enjoyed finding their works in print and it is good for us adults to see the quality of what they can achieve. I always look forward to that.'' Concerning the dumping of school books at Prospect, the Shadow Minister was furious and claimed it was a "callous attitude to things that transcended time.'' She called on "The Diary of Mary Prince'' to be added to the school reading list.

Then she turned to the state of desks being used at Northlands School which were already in a bad state only months after they were bought.

A teacher's desk she had seen was termite infested and had no drawers, she said: "It just shows that teaching is less than valued in this country if teachers are asked to use desk's like this.'' Ms Smith asked for Government to continue pumping "seed money'' into Bermuda College so it could contend with an increasingly sophisticated student body.

She said it was a growing organism that would need some seed money to help it, and backed Bill Cosby's recent call for a University of Bermuda.

Last year's education cuts meant the college library was not allowed to buy new books. Ms Smith said: "It is a beautiful building and we want to students to learn in there, but there are no books.'' Recent calls for condoms and increased sex education in schools have caused controversy in many quarters. Ms Smith said she believed students should start to get sex education lessons at preschool.

She said nurses should give sex education lessons because they know more about the subject. She said: "Young people do not want to hear about the birds and the bees they want the details, the facts of life as they concern them.'' The Shadow Minister said she was not an advocate of black history but called for a multicultural syllabus. She said students should be given deeper insights into culture in geography, cookery, art and music as well as history.

The Time Out programme was scrapped last year after taking some disruptive children out of the mainstream system for a number of weeks. Ms Smith said: "That programme was successful and nothing has changed since it was stopped.

"There are still some young people who need some time out of the classroom and to be in a one-on-one environment. Now we do not have it are we suspending and expelling them?'' Ms Smith said adults closed their minds to children and found it difficult to accept that a child could have distractions at home making learning difficult.

She also pointed out how English "is a second language'' to children who are hearing impaired. She said: "It is just like we would be if learned French or Spanish.'' Finishing her two hour reply she questioned the Education Ministry's objective. She said: "Why has the goal changed from excellence to adequate?'' St. George's South MP Mr. Richard Spurling (UBP) denied St. George's Secondary School was being given a decreased grant this year. He said the grant had, in fact, risen by 20 percent.

Ministry of Education Ministry responsibility: "To ensure that the youth of Bermuda receive adequate educational opportunities.'' Budget estimate: $57,605,000 (last year $55,494,000) Ministry HQ $2,321,000 Department of Education $46,319,000 Bermuda College $8,966,000 Revenue -$129,000.