Throne Speech plans for the island’s next two parish primary schools have been branded as a backtrack on the part of the education ministry by the Opposition.

However, the One Bermuda Alliance statement over the weekend drew a swift rebuttal from Diallo Rabain, the education minister.

Ben Smith, the shadow minister and Opposition MP for Smith’s South, took aim at a pledge in the Throne Speech delivered on Friday for “transition teams for the next two parish primary schools, earmarked for Elliot Primary and Harrington Sound Primary”.

Mr Smith asked if Mr Rabain believed residents were “not paying attention”.

He said the Throne Speech vow appeared to run counter to Mr Rabain’s remarks this July promising a rethink of the parish primary school decision process under education reforms.

Mr Rabain’s statement this summer came against a backdrop of protests from supporters of West End Primary School, earmarked for closure, with the minister saying factors such as “history and legacy” would be added to evaluations of which schools to close.

Mr Smith said: “To me, this means that all schools would now be restarting from equal ground where ranking is concerned, excluding the two current parish primary schools, which commenced operation this academic year.

“So why would Elliot and Harrington Sound be earmarked to be the next two schools?

“Is he assuming the rankings will remain the same? Does he plan on going full speed ahead and only announced the new process to quiet the protesters?”

However, last month Mr Rabain gave some caveats to the new procedure, saying the review would apply to parishes with more than one primary school, with Elliot Primary already designated the parish school for Devonshire.

Mr Rabain said this week that the ministry was “steadfast” on education reform.

He added that he had been transparent and “consistently extended invitations to the Opposition for briefings”, but Mr Smith had made “continuous misinterpretations”.

Mr Rabain said the schools review was not arbitrary, but considered “the unique needs of each parish”.

“It is important to clarify that the review of the primary school decision process pertains to parishes with multiple primary schools,” he said.

“Harrington Sound Primary is the singular school in Smith's Parish and the repurposing of Prospect Primary as the signature school for exceptionalities leaves the Elliot Primary site as the parish school site for Devonshire.”

Mr Rabain added that a September 22 ministerial statement given by Minister Rabain had “confirmed again that the Elliot Primary and Harrington Sound Primary School sites would soon be onboarding school transformation teams”.

He said his remarks in October included that the only primary schools not required to send representatives on history and legacy were Heron Bay, now closed; Francis Patton and Purvis, both of which opened as parish primary schools in September 2023; and Elliot Primary and Prospect Primary“.

“It is disappointing that Mr Smith has overlooked these announcements, choosing instead to question the integrity of the rescoring efforts.”

He added: “We aim to work collaboratively to ensure a transformative education system for Bermuda and we hope Mr Smith will join us in this critical endeavour, moving from obstruction to constructive dialogue.”