Education Minister Dame Jennifer Smith has revealed the true extent of teaching cuts, saying 97 staff have been axed from Bermuda’s public schools.Dame Jennifer told the House of Assembly yesterday that the controversial job losses include 30 paraprofessionals on one-year contracts, 12 unqualified and unregistered staff, and nine Bermudian teachers on temporary assignments or one-year contracts.A total of 20 posts have also been eliminated at The Berkeley Institute and 26 posts at CedarBridge Academy. This is a total of 97 posts out of 130 paraprofessionals and 1,241 teaching posts in the public education system.Staff were told by June 1 that their contracts would not be renewed with Dame Jennifer saying: “The decisions taken in Education should not have come as a surprise they were signalled in March.”Dame Jennifer insisted that “classrooms will not be left bereft” as the public school education system, from preschool to senior school, had good teacher student ratios. In her ministerial statement, Dame Jennifer said: “The education of our children is serious business and ensuring that the public maintains and gains confidence in our public system is equally important.“We remain unequivocal in our commitment to improving Bermuda’s educational system. The decisions we are making are to facilitate teaching and learning.“Yes, we can do more with less the people in Education demonstrate this every day.”Dame Jennifer spoke out after The Royal Gazette published several stories detailing the staff cuts over the last couple of weeks.We first revealed that 30 paraprofessionals were out of jobs, then reported scores of teachers would also not have their contracts renewed.Opposition MPs hit out saying the Government’s budget cuts were wrongly targeting the educational needs of children. In the House, Dame Jennifer said stories had included “alarmist and irresponsible statements” then proceeded to announce 97 jobs were affected.She explained that the teacher student ratio was 9-1 at preschool, 15-1 at primary schools, 17-1 at middle schools and 20-1 at senior schools.She added: “Parents can rest assured that we will continue to meet identified needs.”The Ministry Of Education had its budget reduced by ten percent or $12 million.Dame Jennifer said she had set out the “focus and direction” of the Ministry during the Budget debate. She said she gave notice that the Ministry would be reviewing staffing levels “in light of the economic climate.”Dame Jennifer said the school system had more paraprofessionals than required.She also made reference to the Bermuda Educators Council Act 2002, which states people should not take up employment as educators unless registered.She said: “Not only is this a matter of law, but imagine what would have been said if we condoned putting unqualified persons in our classrooms.”The Minister vowed to work with schools to reassign qualified teachers to other vacancies within the system. In the Motion to Adjourn, Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons, of the One Bermuda Alliance, questioned why Government was cutting staff who have a direct impact on the classroom, instead of administration.He said much of the public, including parents, were concerned about the real impact these cuts would have. Particularly on the Island’s two senior schools, which will lose over 20 percent of their staff. “What we are looking at is one of the largest cuts in the Ministry of Education we have ever seen on this Island.“And the fact of the matter is in the budget statement the number of posts estimated to be cut was three. So when you go from three to 97, the comment ‘there shouldn’t have been any surprise’ is a bit dismissive.”Louise Jackson, the OBA spokesperson for Seniors and Social Services said she was concerned that “Government seem to view education and our children as an item that can be cut”.However, Dame Jennifer responded that the schools had in the past done more with less, saying the schools now have multiple teachers filling the role that used to be held by one.“We used to have a music teacher, but now there’s a voice teacher, a string teacher and a band teacher,” she said.“Let’s not act as though we have not moved on and don’t have three instead of one.”UBP MP Charles Swan however questioned why educators who work directly with students were being cut instead of administrative staff, saying in a business the staff who generate results are the last to go.“Teachers should be the last to go,” he said. “The departments and areas that need to be looked at for cuts are administration and overhead.“But the people in administration staff are the ones who decide who gets fired. Who’s seats are they going to protect?”During the morning’s question time session, Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons asked Dame Jennifer to specify which posts at Berkeley and CedarBridge are being lost.“Who are these people?” said Dr Gibbons.Dame Jennifer replied she would put that question to the boards at both schools.