SHADOW Education Minister, Neville Darrell is calling on the Government to implement a national literacy secretariat. Mr. Darrell is convinced this will not only promote literacy as an essential component of a learning society, but also make the island's social, economic and political life more accessible to people with weak literacy skills.He was commenting on the recent pass rate of 48 percent for students in the public school system and stated that he felt a reason for the high failure rate, and drop out rate was because many of the island's youth lack the necessary literacy skills required to succeed at school, at work and in the community.

"Literacy touches virtually every aspect of our lives and is key to personal growth and development. It has a profound influence on our health, on our social, emotional and economic wellbeing," he said.

"If a young person does not have a good education, it will have a direct impact on their quality of life and if we have a pool of poorly educated people, it will have an impact on our social structure and social cohesion."

Referring to the National Literacy Secretariat which has been in operation in Canada since the later 1980s, Mr. Darrell felt a similar programme could work in partnership with other government departments, business and labour, the voluntary sector and non-governmental organisations to build greater capacity for literacy opportunities across the island.

He suggested it could operate out of the Bermuda College and focus primarily on basic core competencies required, including mathematics, English and computer literacy. Considering that often training programs offered by the National Training Program require students to be at a basis competency level, Mr. Darrell said this program could also include life skills training and pre-employment assessments, helping to maximise interpersonal skills, time management and goal-setting for students.

"This has been tried in Canada where they offer a program addressing students who fall through the cracks and don't graduate. It helps them to deal with life management issues, the basis for students not getting through the school system, be it either anger management, poor attention skills or teaching them time management," he added.

Using an example, he said an individual who did not graduate from school who was working in any of the trades or commercial sectors as a "helper" would now have the opportunity to go through the program which will give the basic core competencies and set them on a track to upgrade to a bona fide credential and ultimately a better-paying job.

A recent literacy study focusing on Bermudians aged 16 to 25 years found that 60 percent of these young adults scored well below the internationally accepted mark of 275 points and were classified as "at risk".

While this does not imply that these young adults are illiterate, it does mean that they do not possess the necessary skills to achieve goals, develop their knowledge and reach their full potential.

Highlighting the recent study, Mr. Darrell said it was high time everyone started working together to bring about a better outcome for our young people. And stated that he felt the Government's commitment to education was "shameful" with six Ministers of Education in the period of eight years.

He went on to say: "This lack of continuity and leadership by the government must be taken into account when we look at many of the troubling outcome measures within the public education system.

"Even as I speak the government has embroiled itself in an apparent conflict with our school principals who believe that the government lacks the willingness to even talk about education reform.

"That certainly is a failing grade in my opinion."