The Ministry of Education’s budget for the next year was approved by Senators yesterday following a debate notable for its non-combative tone.Education Minister Nalton Brangman spent almost two hours of the three hours put aside for the debate running through a checklist of how his department will spend the $145 million allocated to it this year.Although that figure represents an increase of 5.4 percent on last year, Sen Brangman acknowledged that cuts had to be made — and that Government scholarships had been hard hit.The Minister listed a number of initiatives that were proving extremely successful, including the Busy Bees Braille programme and the Alternative Education programme.Responding for the Opposition, Progressive Labour Party Senator Diallo Rabain described the budget as a “homage’ to the former administration.He supported the Sen Brangman’s goal of making the public school system “the number one choice for parents”, and urged the country’s leaders to send their own children to public schools “so that we support the system that we are fighting for and debating about”.“We can see there have been some very positive things going on in the past few years — there wasn’t much that was being tweaked,” Sen Rabain said.“For the most part we saw a lot of the programmes that had been formulated in the past continuing, and that bodes well.”Acknowledging that, under the former Government, the department was overseen by nine Ministers in 14 years, Sen Rabain praised the new administration for avoiding the temptation of wholesale change.“It’s good to see that there is some continuity,” he said.Sen Rabain described the cutting of scholarships as “disappointing” and “a bit harsh” but applauded Government for considering a review of Middle Schools — a policy that the PLP has advocated in the past.The senator also backed plans for screening of Primary One students, pointing out that it was better “to build a strong child than repair a broken man”.But while he also approved of an increase in the number of paraprofessionals being drafted into schools, Sen Rabain wanted to ensure that they would be properly qualified.And he also cautioned against “the romantic notion of a technical institute”, advising that while youngsters should be given exposure to vocational learning, they should not be funnelled into non-academic training at too-early an age.Sen Rabain concluded by suggesting that the Bermuda College could become a centre of excellence for the study of the reinsurance industry, as the Island was already “at the epicentre of this type of business”.