“Education is important enough to have two people focusing on it,” according to the new Minister and Junior Minister of Education.

Speaking exclusively with The Royal Gazette since the Cabinet shuffle last year, Dr Grant Gibbons, Minister of Education, and Leah Scott, Junior Minister of Education, said dividing responsibilities will leave them better equipped to deal with a ministry crucial to Bermuda’s future.

Now the minister for both economic development and education, Dr Gibbons said combining the two was “natural” — but quashed any suggestion that the dual role will leave him stretched thin.

“There has been a fair amount of pressure with the Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Commission and everything else to reduce the number of ministries, so I think it’s natural that if you start to reduce the number of ministries, then people get more responsibilities.

“And I think the way this has worked out is possibly because I’ve been involved in education as Shadow Minister for a number of years and all the rest of it.

“And because there is a natural connection between, I think, economic development and having an educated workforce. It probably makes quite a bit of sense in that regard.

The question then becomes, said Dr Gibbons: “How do you do the best job you can?”

The answer, he said, is teamwork.

“I think Leah and I would probably consider, at least for Bermuda’s future, this is probably one of the most, if not the most, important portfolio out there,” said Dr Gibbons. “We’re talking about opportunities for our children, an educated workforce, Bermuda being competitive.”

“[In the United Kingdom] they have junior ministers who have responsibility for different parts of larger ministries.

“I still obviously have a responsibility to the economic development part — that’s very key and I obviously want to continue spending a fair amount of time on that — but at the same time, education is critical.

“So in a sense, what we’re doing is we’re using a team approach here, where both of us are going to be focused on the Ministry of Education and on the Department of Education as well.

“Do we have all the answers? Do we know exactly how the interaction is going to work?

“I’m not sure we do. We’re saying: this is a very important junior minister position because we’re working in the House [of Assembly] together on this, and indeed in the Ministry as well, as opposed to having someone simply address the issue of education in the senate.”

This would mark the first time, according to Dr Gibbons, that a Junior Minister has had a seat in the House of Assembly alongside the substantive minister.

As for the Junior Education Minister, Ms Scott said she joined the political arena to help Bermuda in any capacity.

“Education is my passion, but I was prepared to serve in whatever roll would allow me to make a contribution. But I’m excited to be in education, obviously,” said Ms Scott.

“I want to see the children of Bermuda on par internationally, worldwide, so that when a child finishes school here in Bermuda, or if a child leaves sixth grade or seventh grade, that they can go into that school and be at the same level as a student in Canada, or the US, or Finland, or Japan, wherever they are, so that they don’t have to have any remediation, anything that will indicate that the education they got in Bermuda has been substandard.

“There should be no different in the level of education and knowledge that is imparted to them, or the standard of teaching, between Bermuda and anywhere else. There should no be any distinction between our students and students anywhere else in the world.”