The Premier is ?deeply and seriously? concerned about the state of education, he admitted to students, teachers and parents at a West End school yesterday.

Ewart Brown revealed to Sandys Secondary Middle School that within the next three months the Island would hear ?some very significant statements? about what was planned to improve attainment levels.

?I have told the Minister of Education that I?m deeply and seriously concerned with some of the trends and performances that I have seen in education,? he told them, in response to a pupil who asked him what changes he wanted to make as leader of the country.

?If we keep doing what we are doing, we will keep getting what we have been getting. We have to do some serious change. Education is in a serious situation.?

The frank admission by the Premier that the Island?s public school system is in trouble echoes concerns already raised repeatedly by teachers, parents and politicians, including the Government?s own Ren?e Webb. This year?s graduation rates for the Island?s two senior schools have still not been made public ? almost six months after students graduated.

Numerous requests by have proved fruitless. Yesterday, a Government spokesman said: ?We are expecting to release the graduation results in the middle of next week.?

In 2005, the overall failure rate was 47 percent ? meaning almost half of the pupils at CedarBridge Academy and Berkeley Institute did not achieve Bermuda School Certificates. Dr. Brown told the school in Sandys: ?I can tell you that I?m not happy and my colleagues are not happy that we don?t seem to be moving forward as a collective.

?We don?t seem to be getting better. We don?t seem to be producing students out of our system who are guaranteed employment in Bermuda. ?Our people are increasingly becoming spectators to what is going on inside our country. The education system has to be the first line of attack.?

The Premier said that one of the first changes to be made would be the introduction of textbooks in the first quarter of 2007 that ?reflect the kids that read them?.

?The good news is that there won?t be a big period of explanation,? he said. ?We have gone through that already. In 2006, it?s an embarrassment to me that our children can?t open textbooks and see themselves.?

Dr. Brown was at the school, which has 227 students, for an assembly celebrating the youngsters with the highest grades. He presented certificates to 150 pupils; 19 had achieved an average grade between 90 and 100 percent, 82 had got between 80 and 89.9 percent and 49 had got between 75 and 79.9 percent.

The Premier said a negative image of the Island?s children was often portrayed but that the positives should be celebrated. And he spoke of his own upbringing and how his aunt?s husband, a doctor, inspired him to achieve. He told the students to aim high ? regardless of what others thought of their ability.

Dr. Brown?s admission about public education was made during a question-and-answer session with pupils. They asked him why he was a member of the Progressive Labour Party, why he wanted to be Premier and how he was finding his new role.

In answer to the last question, he replied: ?It feels good. It?s such a challenge.?

And, in an apparent reference to his House of Assembly outburst at Opposition MP Grant Gibbons earlier this month, he added: ?I speak not only for myself but for my party and the country. Sometimes the line is very thin and sometimes I will come close to that line in trying to make a point, as happened a couple of weeks ago.?

Sandys principal Melvyn Bassett later took to the stage and presented the Premier with two textbooks developed by the school containing photographs of its own pupils. He told that having books which reflected the racial makeup of the Island was ?critical? so that students could relate to the content. ?Otherwise, they don?t see it as being meaningful and purposeful for their own lives,? he said. Dr. Bassett echoed the Premier?s criticism of public education.

He said: ?We all have concerns about education. But I think this morning represents the point that he made that we often get distracted by the negative and miss the opportunity to celebrate the very large and healthy number of students that are actually doing well.?