Education Minister Randy Horton pledged last night to improve technical education on the Island after telling a public meeting he was “not happy” with its current state.

The Minister made his comments from his seat in the audience at a well-attended forum staged by Bermuda College on the future of technical education. “I can tell you I have the highest interest in technical education,” he said. “I’m not happy with the way it is at the moment and I certainly will say that we look to bring about some significant improvements all through the system.”

The meeting had earlier heard suggestions that technical education be started in primary school and continue throughout middle and senior school before formal training at a tertiary level.

Alan Burland, from the Construction Association, was one of a five-member panel who each spoke on the subject.

He said students should be guided down the road of technical education from an early age.

“Why don’t we help them to develop their aptitudes right through the entire school system,” he said.

“Bermuda needs to take urgent steps to improve and provide a more meaningful and balanced form of education starting at the primary level.”

He called for a meeting to be held in the New Year with industry members and the Ministry of Education to formulate a plan. And he urged Government to put more technical people on key education boards and committees.

“We can’t afford to allow another generation to slip by,” he said.

Llewellyn Trott, from Bermuda College, said the college was striving to improve the technical education it offered.

The college’s associate vice-president of technical education said a programme to get more certified instructors had been launched and that there were plans to reintroduce night classes.

Occupational advisory committees are also to be brought back to help the college ensure its programmes meet national standards and keep abreast of the latest equipment and techniques.

“We want industry to help us,” he said. “We need to have the cutting edge equipment. We need to have our instructors abreast of the cutting edge practices.”

Mr. Trott added that the college could not solve the technical education problem on its own. “Technical education can’t exist in a vacuum at Bermuda College, at CedarBridge (Academy), at Berkeley (Institute) or even in industry. Everybody has a piece to the puzzle. The puzzle is on the table. Please bring your piece and let us complete the puzzle.”

Mr. Trott added that too many parents in Bermuda were focused on their children becoming accountants or lawyers. He asked what was wrong with bright children being encouraged to become plumbers or landscapers.

“We have to make it our business to train Bermudians for the future of this country,” he told the meeting, which was attended by former BIU leader and PLP Chief Whip Ottiwell Simmons and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Maxwell Burgess. “Technical education is a noble field.”

‘Significant’ changes coming for tech education