If the Island is to resurrect its failing education system, then the community must return to the fundamental building block of teaching and learning — literacy — Government has said.

The statement was made by Minister of Education Randolph Horton, who addressed the 24th conference of the Bermuda Reading Association (BRA) held on Saturday at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

Mr. Horton assured the hundreds in attendance that Government is reforming the education system.

"As we meet this morning, the Ministry of Education, through the Interim Education Review Board, is hard at work reshaping and remodelling our education system, that most in this country knew needed to be repaired but could not agree on how," Mr. Horton said.

"It became an overwhelming reality to all of us that we must return to the very fundamentals of teaching and learning if we are to resurrect a failed system and rescue our students who do not only need a good education but deserve one."

While adding that the Island's future as a prosperous nation depends on Bermudians "digging deep", he made clear that nothing would be achieved unless a commitment to literacy was made.

"We all know too well that nothing in education will be achieved if we did not make reading and writing absolutely fundamental in our rebirth," the Minister said. "I can assure you, at the Ministry of Education, we understand that reading is truly fundamental."

Lana Talbot, president of the Bermuda Reading Association, spoke on the purpose of the conference, which also featured American keynote speaker Dr. Ray Reutzel, a member of the board of directors and Endowed Chair Professor of Early Childhood Education at Utah State University in Logan.

Ms Talbot said: "This provides an opportunity for professional development and provides parents, teachers and anybody in the community with knowledge on literacy... In these areas, as you know, our children are lagging behind somewhat and one of the things BRA tries to do is to bring about awareness and promote the importance of literacy.

"By having a conference, this helps us to get that out there and also to provide teachers with different skills and knowledge-based stuff and how to teach it more effectively."

What the association is finding, Ms Talbot added, is that children who are not reading are lagging behind in almost all academic subjects in schools.

In his keynote address, Dr. Reutzel spoke on literacy issues in teaching and held a workshop designed to motivate readers of all ages, including assessment strategies for classroom teachers. At the end of the conference, the association presented an award to BLING (Books Lead Individuals to New Greatness), the popular children's book club, designed to encourage reading among the Island's children.

The award recognised BLING's efforts in promoting community literacy. BLING was started by Hott 107.5 morning DJ Thaao Dill and former Royal Gazette reporter Glenn Jones in May 2007, when the two worked together at the radio station.

Mr. Jones ¿ the Premier's press secretary ¿ said: "The sort of galvanizing force (for BLING) was my 30th birthday, and so we used that as a platform to launch the club and encourage listeners to donate to the club.

For more information on the BLING bookclub, email blingbookclub@hotmail.com or listen daily to the Thaao Dill morning show on Hott 107.5 FM.