Education Minister Jerome Dill yesterday vehemently rejected parents' calls to privatise the public school system.

Responding to news that parents were fed up with the Education Ministry's running of public schools and had begun to circulate a petition to make such schools independent, Mr. Dill vowed that he will "never'' propose to Government that it relinquish its "commitment'' to educate Bermuda's young people.

While noting there was a strong need for private education and parents had a right to choose private schools, he said it would be morally wrong for Government to abandon its education duty.

"There are approximately 6,500 students in the public education system and the majority of those children are well served,'' Mr. Dill stressed.

Admitting that there were problems in the system, he added: "That's one of the reasons we are restructuring the system and spending so much time in the preparation stage, so that we can serve them better.'' However, Mr. Dill pointed out that public education systems all over the world had challenges.

"But no-one can deny that our public education system is serving people well,'' he said. "Look at the success stories.'' Mr. Dill noted that he could not comment on parents' complaints about St.

George's Secondary until he was briefed by education officials.

Close to a dozen parents told The Royal Gazette their children were being exposed to everything but an education at the school.

They shared stories of students, a school, and an education system which they believed had spiralled out of control.

One couple explained that they had to send their son overseas last month after seeing the poor state of discipline at the school. And they said they had not heard from the school about their son's whereabouts.

However, they pointed out that what was happening at St. George's Secondary was also taking places at high schools throughout the public system.

Minister rejects privatisation St. George's Secondary principal Charlotte Ming declined to comment and referred inquiries to Chief Education Officer Joseph Christopher who was scheduled to meet with Mrs. Ming yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Bermuda Union of Teachers president Michael Charles said the general tone of parents' complaints had been brought to the Ministry's attention before.

"These are not new issues to the Ministry and should not come as shock,'' he said. "I can go back as far as when Gerald Simons was Minister. Back then we talked about discipline problems in the schools and he denied it. And maybe that's the reason why it has gone so far.'' While admitting that the solution to problems in schools depended on the involvement of the entire community, Mr. Charles said: "What we are talking about is a minority of students who are causing a lot of problems for others who want to learn. And because of the pressure they put on students who are not as strong, they cause students who would normally be well behaved to misbehave.

"Teachers in a lot of these cases just don't have the resources to deal with this.'' However, Mr. Charles said he was not sure privatisation was the answer.

"People who are paid, and paid well, at the top should be accountable,'' he stressed.

He recalled that teachers were surprised to hear, last month at a meeting at Warwick Secondary, the Minister announce that alternative schools were not on the cards.

He said such a statement came as a shock because last November, shortly after becoming Education Minister, Mr. Dill had promised that alternative schools would be an option.

Mr. Charles explained that alternative schools should be set up to the satisfaction of parents and with the aim of preparing students to return to the regular classroom setting.

So far he was not aware of any alternative programmes in schools, he added.

"You have to have the whole gamut,'' Mr. Charles stressed. "You need alternative schools and alternative programmes.'' Concerning specific complaints about St. George's Secondary, Mr. Charles said: "What has happened now should be a wake-up call. Somebody is being paid to run the system and why isn't somebody being made to answer these allegations?'' Opposition Leader Jennifer Smith said she was not surprised by parents' complaints.

"I've been trying to point out these concerns for some time,'' said Ms Smith who is also the Shadow Education Minister.

She urged parents to continue their vigilance to ensure that the Ministry of Education responded to their needs.