Government has not lowered standards despite a story in this newspaper implying it had, Education Minister El James said on Friday.

He told the House of Assembly it was evidence that the education system and public school students were "once more being used as political footballs".

"I decided that the daily was implying that we in the Bermuda Ministry of Education had lowered the standards which students must achieve in order to graduate from senior school. The truth, Mr. Speaker, is that we have not lowered our standards. In November last year I said that we were going to raise the bar. I said that I wanted to require students to have a [grade point average] of 2.0 or better in order to graduate."

He continued: "But let me be clear, Mr. Speaker. I said this in November 2009, and I'm sure that you realise that the 2009/10 school year started two months before, in September."

Mr. James' comments followed an article in The Royal Gazette that students were able to graduate from the Island's senior schools with a GPA of 1.0 a D average when accredited universities and colleges in the US require students to have a minimum 2.0 to gain entry.

The article explained that the Ministry said the 2.0 minimum would not be put into effect until this September for students graduating in 2011.

The Minister confirmed this in the House of Assembly on Friday: "There is no way that we could raise the standards for graduation in the middle of the school year. So for either the daily of the Opposition to express any kind of surprise that the standards were not raised for this year's graduating class is disappointing to say the least."

Mr. James said the requirements will become more "stringent" in the future.

"Mr. Speaker, I have to stress that while the graduation requirements may have remained the same, that does not mean that the principals, teachers and students at both CedarBridge and Berkeley have not been working to improve their results."

The Minister went on to congratulate the graduates of 2010 and said his Ministry must be "doing something right" as many students were going on to further education.

"We have to keep raising our expectations and standards, we have to keep pushing and we have to require more from everyone in education including students, teachers, principals and officers," he said.