Education Minister Randy Horton kicked off the second half of the Throne Speech debate yesterday morning — and kept the focus firmly on schools.

In a passionate speech, he revealed he had met principals on Thursday and told them: “You must believe our young people can achieve.”

Underlining the importance of head teachers, as Government seeks to boost worrying graduation rates, the former principal of Warwick Secondary added: “If you have good principals, you have good schools.”

The education system had to be taken “by the scruff of the neck” and run like a business.

“People are going to be held accountable and schools are going to be held accountable,” he warned. “Principals are going to be held accountable.”

Teachers will be evaluated annually and reporting periods will be embedded in a revised five-year strategic plan, the Minister told MPs, due to be rolled out next summer.

Mr. Horton said under a new literacy programme pupils would be encouraged to read “from the outset”.

The myriad of programmes already in schools would be unified and best practices shared.

Parents across the Island will get the chance to fill in opinion surveys. “We want to know what they are thinking. They are the people that the school belongs to.”

Technical education would be revisited, and he said there was no reason for Bermudians to travel to Barbados to get degrees to work for Marine and Ports.

“We have a college (Bermuda College) that has good facilities and we have to put them to better use.”

He also said there would be a rethink on hospitality and an end to guidance counsellors at schools leading everyone to careers in international business.

“Not everyone is going to be a lawyer or a doctor,” he said.

And the former professional footballer and Cup Match captain said sport was crucial in boosting confidence and fitness levels.

“We have a nation of unfits, a nation of people who walk 50 yards and have to sit down. We have a nation that needs to be more attentive to its health and fitness.”

Former Opposition Leader, Grant Gibbons, said Mr. Horton’s passion could not be doubted. But he said it would take “more than platitudes” to mend the education system.

“I do not think Government has a clue how to fix it,” he added.

Dr. Gibbons claimed the Throne Speech contained nothing dramatically new and, referring to the number of PLP leaders since 1998, said third marriages were said to be a triumph of hope over experience.

Raising the issue of trust, he suggested the news that the latest Club Med deal had fallen by the wayside had been played down because it coincided with the PLP leadership election.

And Dr. Gibbons suggested that Dr. Brown had put a “big red pencil” through mentions of social agenda, sustainable development and independence, before claiming that none of the initiatives had any real substance.

On the subject of race., Dr. Gibbons questioned why the Throne Speech closed with a quote referring to the fight against slavery, from 1857.

The backbencher said this was a “coded statement” about how Government plans to handle race relations, but said this Nineteenth Century model would only be divisive for Bermuda in 2006.

He later asked where were the lessons learned from the modern era of Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela — and said the whole community needed to be united.

Dr. Gibbons questioned the Throne Speech pledge to develop a “healthy way” to address race, and asked why the community should trust a leader who had “frequently gone out of his way to polarise the country” with talk of the UBP and plantations.

Dr. Brown later hit back and said that his party was not excluding anyone, before asking Dr. Gibbon’s what his solution was.

On education, Dr. Gibbons said the system was failing young Bermudians and quoted 2000 census figures showing that 15 per cent of Bermudians had college degrees, compared to 38 per cent of non-Bermudians.

Twenty-three per cent of white Bermudians had college degrees, he added, while eleven per cent of black Bermudians did — both well behind US figures, the House heard.

He said that the Island operated in a global environment — and warned that exempt companies could move elsewhere if standards did not improve.

Progressive Labour Party backbencher Dean Foggo hit back at white UBP members who have berated Government on race.

He said he was trying his best to stay calm on the issue, and added: “Those that put people in a position are now saying we are not doing what we should be doing.”

He suggested the Opposition was saying racism was about words like “house n****r” not past injustices, but he said that Dr. Brown was about “changing the mindset of our people”.

He added: “It’s a powerful thing when you get a group of people believing in the power they have.”

Mr. Foggo said the Throne Speech was showing the way to change the mindsets of many people in Bermuda from one of fearful minds to hopeful minds and on to confident minds.

He listed ten things within the Speech that excited him, the first being the creation of the new ministry for social rehabilitation which he said would be key in changing the mindsets of people.

Next on his checklist to praise was the idea of income-based housing, where individuals would pay a rent based on a portion of their income, and moving to the subject of education.

Mr. Foggo explained: “I’m looking forward to the things the new Education Minister will put in place and I’m glad he is going to run it like a business with accountability.”

His fourth point was the introduction of 14-week paid internships for young people, which he praised along with the concept of a parenting programme highlighting the importance of parents in bringing up children.

Getting Bermudians healthier and fitter also met with approval, the positive lifestyle initiatives from the Throne Speech are the way forward, although he light-heartedly mentioned he was working on getting out of bed.

He also touched on race relations and said there comes a time for people to express themselves so that they will not be stuck in the past.

Moving to number eight on his list, Mr. Foggo gave thumbs up to construction industry training workshops and also the concept of communities helping themselves through Parishes Achieving Change Together (PACT) and taking power in their area.

And he wrapped up with his tenth point, returning to the idea of changing mindsets and contrasting Bermuda’s motto “Quo Fata Ferunt” with the powerful quote of Frederick Douglas at the end of the Throne Speech about there being no progress without struggle.

Next to his feet was United Bermuda Party shadow Attorney General Trevor Moniz who said people should not define themselves by race and they are always much more than the race or ethnic extraction from which they hail.

He informed the House that he had researched the surname Foggo for his 11-year-old son the previous night and learned that in Portuguese it is related to fire, passion and enthusiasm.

Touching on the CedarBridge Academy situation he wondered what was happening with the old Berkeley Institute which will, from next week, be the temporary school for most of the CedarBridge students. The idea of free transport on buses and ferries, not in the Throne Speech but mentioned by Premier Dr. Brown elsewhere was something Mr. Moniz supports, he said, adding that he is all for giving it a trial and seeing how successful it is through monitoring ridership.

A lawyer, Mr. Moniz brought up recent developments in the unsolved Rebecca Middleton murder case and the prospect of fresh charges being brought. He said his colleague John Barritt had in the past brought to Parliament’s attention changes in the double jeopardy rule in UK law and how it could be brought to Bermuda.

“The other side were sympathetic but nothing happens. Here is an issue where there’s bipartisan support but it does not go forward. That is not satisfactory,” he said.

Former telecommunications minister Michael Scott <$>took aim at what he saw as the UBP’s failure to provide social support while it was in Government and instead focused on the business side of managing the Island.

He said the PLP had instead continued to work on social activism, even at the expense of knowing that not all its ideas and projects would be successful.

“We wear the scars of our errors as badges of honour. We go where the UBP did not dare to go. The point is we have been successful on many fronts,” said Mr. Scott.

And he spoke of the great achievements of nations like Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland that were the result of those countries providing apprenticeships and internships to young people to give them a training and a job vocation.

“This concept was transported to Dockyard by the British, why have we drifted away from that when it is a model that is so important to those other nations to give young people the skill sets in plumbing, computer repairs, etc.,” he said.

“The UBP closed down the Howard Academy and the Technical Institute. That is their legacy. The UBP has contributed to this dearth of internships and apprenticeships in this country.”

On race he said that the PLP Government was leading by example, showing that black people can successfully run a country that is on the world stage and is engaged efficiently and with a commendable reputation for its international commerce and finance sector.

He added: “I prefer to see examples of black people in power and positions of responsibility that send messages to those behind us that they too can have a place in the sun.”

And he feels that true equality of wealth and opportunity through market forces and real economic partnership and sharing between the different races would be the route that would lead to genuine integration of the people.

UBP Shadow Environment Minister Cole Simons <$>questioned how Premier Dr. Brown could turn around as the new leader and say that the previous PLP Governments had got it wrong when he had been a leading Minister since 1998 and Deputy Premier for the past three years.

“What about collective responsibility?” he asked, adding that the Premier had “reaffirmed what the Opposition has said that the Government has been inept and ineffective”.

On the subject of drugs Mr. Simons accused Government of not taking the drug industry seriously, as evident he felt by the dropping of the Ministry for National Drug Control.

He said there needed to by an inter-government agency headed by a drugs’ czar.

Turning to the environment he said there had been little in the Throne Speech to show where the Government was going in regards to such things as turning the Marsh Folly Marsh area into a green space for the nearby residents — a plan he said would increase the value of their homes and give them some empowerment.

There needs to be legislation that forever safeguards Bermuda’s national parks, such as exists in the US for places like New York’s Central Park and the central parks in London.

Mr. Simons also believes there needs to be serious consideration of building higher condo units but provide green, open space nearby to alleviate the pressure on developing across open spaces.

He asked where was the mention of the Sustainable Development project that had taken such a high profile in the 2005 Throne Speech but was absent from the 2006 version? “It has fallen off the national perch,” he commented by way of answering his own question.

And Mr. Simons went on to warn of the danger of ignoring the effects of global warming and rising sea levels.

“We need to halt developing properties at or below sea level and what will happen to the airport, Causeway, Front Street, Sinky Hole and St. George’s with rising sea levels?” he asked.

The Agricultural Outreach Programme was welcomed by the UBP MP but Mr. Simons criticised Government for having no agricultural master plan.

He also asked why was Government not cleaning up Morgan’s Point to prepare it for future investment. On the issue of race, Mr. Simons said MPs should be “soldiers for change” by living by example and showing understanding and respect for one another regardless of racial background.

PLP backbencher Ashfield DeVent <$>gave an impassioned speech on the need for the Government to reach out and help the Island’s “broken” people and families. He welcomed plans to establish a poverty line and said it was crucial to ensure that absent parents were tracked down and made to pay out child maintenance. “We collectively have to find a better way to make sure that those parents who have been ordered to make payments are made to do it one way or another.

“The Police say many times: ‘We can’t find people’. In this place I find that hard to believe. You can’t just have children and walk away from it. We have to somehow work hard to make these people responsible.”

He added: “I don’t think the Police want to get involved in these type of things. If we are going to get them to do it... it means changing their mindsets.”

Mr. DeVent said the presence of Police officers on Court Street was already starting to have an impact on drug dealing activity, arguing that criminals had been allowed to operate there unchecked for decades.

And he called on teachers to shoulder the responsibility for poor standards in schools.

“We have young people in this country who don’t know that I is a capital letter,” he said. “Teachers must be held responsible for that. They can no longer just blame the parents.”

The former Works and Engineering Minister said the new Ministry of Social Rehabilitation would be key in tackling the country’s problems. “This Government has made steps to try to address these issues.”

Former Health Minister Patrice Minors told the House that she had spoken to the Bermuda Hospitals Board about the “indigent” clinic while still in her Cabinet post in an attempt to change negative perceptions. “It had the name Indigent but it was changed to Medical Clinic,” she said.

She cautioned against closing the clinic, arguing that some people would still want to go there.

Ms Minors said the introduction of an elder abuse register was aimed at stopping people with a history of abusing seniors from working in elderly care.

She said specific legislation was not needed because “any abuse against a person should be deemed a criminal offence”.

Shadow Finance Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin <$>was on fiery form as she took to the floor of the House to blast the Throne Speech as “a compendium of sound bites”. The Opposition MP accused the Government of rewriting history by claiming that the United Bermuda Party had not been a “people-centred” government when in power.

She cited financial assistance programmes, a women’s shelter and housing schemes as evidence of the party’s social conscience. “That would be totally negated if one would listen to the nonsense that has been spewed on the floor of this House,” she said. She said Mr. Horton’s passionate speech on education had seemed to indicate that all the previous PLP Education Ministers — there have been five since 1998 — were “chopped liver”.

She said if the Government was only now looking to improve standards in public education “then the past eight years have been more dismal than even us on the Opposition have been able to recognise”.

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin laid into Dr. Brown for the speech he gave to Progressive Labour Party delegates on the night of his leadership victory, in which he said people were no better off than three years ago. “He didn’t want that to get out to the public,” she said. “Nobody in their sober and right mind would want to admit that.”

She said he had been in Cabinet for three successive administrations but had failed to come up with any new ideas - as his own Deputy Premier Paula Cox claimed before he became party leader. She added that the PLP had had only one real Premier and that was Dame Jennifer Smith, who won two elections. “However, Dame Jennifer sits on the periphery and we now have impostor number two having replaced impostor number one,” said Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin.

The UBP politician also criticised the Government’s record on housing and said her party would immediately build 100 homes for low-income families if elected. She said the $50 million overspend on the new Berkeley could have been spent on 167 new houses. “We have people out there sleeping in cars and there’s no plan,” she said.

See Monday’s edition for more from the House of Assembly

Cole Simons asks if Sustainable Development has ‘fallen off the perch’