Government is meeting the parents of special needs children to assess how to deal with their problems, but no decision has been made about whether to put them in separate schools, Education Minister Paula Cox said last night.

She was responding to shadow Education Minister Tim Smith who said he was "dismayed" at comments made by the Minister and Bermuda Union of Teachers General Secretary Michael Charles about possibly taking special needs children out of mainstream classes and into special schools.

Mr. Smith said including special needs children in mainstream classes was essential to developing more rounded students, even though there could be difficulties for other students and teachers.

In the House of Assembly, he called on Ms Cox to give an assurance that the policy of keeping special needs children in ordinary classes would continue.

Ms Cox said : "In terms of special needs children, Government needs to be sensitive to the wide-ranging issues, and we'll be having a meeting with the parents, and some of them will be bringing their special needs children, and also the teachers in the next few weeks.

"The question of inclusion or exclusion is a moot one. We've always got to look at the end product, delivering a quality product to students.

"The question of excluding children does not come into play, the question is how do we maximise the experience in the classroom, as well as the teachers' and parents' needs.

"An assurance I can give is that the Government has the end in view in terms of those who are the end users and that our children benefit.

"It may mean thinking outside the box or reviewing the policy but we will not prejudice, disadvantage or hurt the children. No decision is cast in stone about the necessarily of a special needs school, but we have to optimise the utility of the classroom."

Mr. Smith said: "I am dismayed by these pronouncements. I recognise the stresses with the inclusion programme. Teachers become beleaguered and stressed, and feeling that they are losing control over their classrooms.

"If the Minister and Mr. Charles are suggesting partial inclusion, we no longer have inclusion: we have exclusion and the segregation of special needs children.

"The suggestion that we need special needs schools sends shivers up my spine. It is a retrograde, regressive step if the inclusion programme is changed to put our special needs children in segregated classes.

"Keeping special needs children in the classroom enriched everyone and taught mainstream students to be more generous, he added.

If there were problems now, it was because there were problems with the current special needs programme, added Mr. Smith.