The work of a committee that could result in primary schools slated for closure remaining open is due to be submitted at the end of this month, the Minister of Education revealed.

Speaking at a Throne Speech press conference yesterday, Diallo Rabain said that once the History and Legacy Committee completed its report, the parish primary school plan that selected eight public schools to axe, would be re-examined, with a new plan formed and put back out for consultation.

The committee was launched in response to public discord over the criteria set by the Government for the closure of schools. The criteria primarily focused on the suitability of school buildings and grounds for renovations that align with the Government’s education reform plan.

A pressure group representing West End Primary School, one of the first schools to accept Black children, was particularly vociferous about the need to rescore the schools and consider the history and legacy of the institutions in question.

Mr Rabain said: “Once the rescoring process is under way, that, along with the feedback, will be fed back into the plan and an alternative plan, if such, will then be put together and will go back out for consultation.”

He outlined the complexities of launching an Education Authority, an initiative that was mentioned in last year’s Throne Speech.

“The establishment of the authority is an ambitious, complex and wide-ranging undertaking that will involve numerous legal entities, public and private acts, aided schools, various unions and bargaining units, employment rights and property rights.”

He said the ministry had determined that “specialised and dedicated legal advice was required to provide proactive strategic direction and to respond to both anticipated and unanticipated legal issues uncovered during the development and implementation of the authority”.

The idea for an “independent” authority was first floated in the Future State Report —commissioned by David Burt, the Premier — in September 2019.

During the press conference, Mr Rabain said, as he has said before, that any authority funded by the Government would not be fully independent as it would be obliged to report its financial activities to the Government.

Mr Rabain was asked about the “exodus” of teachers and students out of the public school system that the Bermuda Union of Teachers referred to in a statement denouncing the leadership of the Department of Education.

While Mr Rabain said there had been increases in student/teacher figures at some year levels between 2021 and 2022, there were diminished numbers in others.

He said he was awaiting data on the figures for 2023 and was encouraging the department to be more transparent when it came to releasing such data.

Mr Rabain said: “We have not hidden from the fact that there is an exodus from our system between primary school and middle school — that is one of the reasons that we are revamping our system. However, there is an entry of students at the primary level and senior level that we are seeing and those things balance out.

“It’s just a matter of us waiting for that data. I have asked the Department of Education to be much more transparent with that kind of data so we can address those kinds of questions upfront and I have made it clear that the data will be made public.”

Mr Rabain was also asked about the academic performance of students in the public school system at present.

He said both senior schools had a 90 per cent graduation rate but that not all students in the system were doing well.

“I am not going to stand here and say that everyone is doing great and it’s perfect. If it was we wouldn’t be looking to do education reform.”

He said that a meeting was scheduled for next Wednesday to get an update on when the Purvis Primary and Francis Patton school buildings would be ready to open their doors.

Pupils at the schools, the first two to convert to the parish primary model, have been homed in alternative locations because construction work was not completed in time for the school year.

In his prepared remarks, Mr Rabain repeated information announced in a press release before the Throne Speech and which was mentioned in the speech itself — namely that transformation teams were being assembled to help redesign programmes for the next cohort of primary and signature schools, as well as an expansion of the programme at CedarBridge Academy

He did add that a survey had been conducted on student satisfaction with the signature programmes at The Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy.

It revealed that about 75 per cent of signature school students reported enjoying their studies and that about 70 per cent believe their courses helped them to build on their talents. The survey also showed that 70 per cent of them believed that their teachers and coursework challenged them to do their best.