We welcome the new education initiatives presented earlier this week by Education Minister Paula Cox and hope they will bring our children's education standards up to a high level when compared to the rest of the world.

For too long the cry has gone out that some of our children are 'falling through the cracks' and leaving school ill prepared for their future. Any effort to fill those cracks must be welcomed.

Stories of adults without the skills to command the three Rs - reading, writing and arithmetic - are well known and raise concern amongst many in the community, particularly those whose children are in the Island's school system.

Concerns must remain high for some parents as the Education Ministry's announcement of its new strategic plan came on the heels of a forum at the Bermuda College where passionate parents of both physically challenged and impaired children and gifted youngsters raised their concerns that their children's special education needs were being overlooked.

Programmes designed to improve education have constantly been introduced yet these comparitively small groups of students, who can be easily identified through medical and educational testing, are still being overlooked, according to their parents.

These children have been dispersed through the public education system and are caught up in the mainstream alongside the general student body so they are educated and tested in the same fashion as other students.

Specific examples of a lack of attention to needs were a child with cerebral palsy who was speechless and did not see a speech therapist for three years and a five-year-old deaf boy who was tested without his hearing impairment being considered.

As the deaf boy's mother said: "I know there are not enough children with cerebral palsy in Bermuda to provide a special programme for them. I know there are not enough deaf children for a school for the deaf but there is still a responsibility there."

She is absolutely correct and parents must wonder if these children with learning challenges are not having their needs met then what about the larger populace.

And it is not only special needs students who are missing out. According to opinions voiced at Monday's public meeting, advanced middle school students are also suffering by being held back by their slower peers.

Any new education initiatives must be able to look at each student individually to assess his or her needs and then provide the means to meet them.

Government has spent much of the past four years working to improve standards in our primary schools and the results show that there has been some success in this area, with younger students achieving comparable scores in Terra Nova tests to American children.

Hopefully these efforts can be carried over to the middle school level so advances made by our primary students are not lost when they enter the middle school system.

All children are individuals and must be looked at one by one to determine whether they are having their needs met or whether the education system is falling short.

Only then will we be providing every child with the education that they deserve.