portfolio in the third part in a series highlighting the eight separate areas of the document. Government has invested a fortune in a new-style education system, with $90 million spent already and another $70 million still to be forked out. And yesterday Education Minister Tim Smith said he was confident the massive cash injection would provide a top-of-the-class system -- and a well-prepared crop of graduates when the first of the youngsters to go right through the middle school/senior school system emerge in the first years of the next century. Mr. Smith said: "It's too early to tell whether it's paid off -- our goal now is to assess them at each year level so when 2003 comes around we will be able to measure our success and their success in the securing of jobs. "At the moment, we have no benchmark to compare them because they're all new to the system.'' But Mr. Smith said: "We have every confidence that we made the right decisions at the right time for Bermuda's education system.'' The huge task will not be complete, however, until 2002, when work on the Berkeley Institute to transform it into the other senior school alongside the new CedarBridge is completed. And work on some schools designated as middle schools is also still underway. The United Bermuda Party's Blueprint for the last General Election in 1993 listed six targets for the Ministry of Education. But the restructuring of the entire secondary school system was a massive task just on its own. Of the six specified goals, four are listed in the Blueprint as implemented or recurring, while two are listed as complete. Among the implemented/recurring pledges was one to provide pre-school education for all four-year-olds. There is now a pre-school in each parish, with investigation of further sites going on. A pledge to provide greater choice in technical education is listed under the same heading.

According to the Blueprint, curriculum changes in the schools at middle school level are complete, while alterations at the senior level are expected to be completed this year. Also complete is the technical education centre at Bermuda College, opened nearly two uears ago, while special courses in Family Studies & Design & Technology are up and running. The College has also introduced the Best Starts programme to encourage mature students to return to education. Promises fulfilled earlier include a 1994 $4 million pot of cash to set up the National Education Guarantee Scheme, designed to provide financial security to all qualifying students by ensuring loans for college or university. Mr. Smith -- in his post for just three months -- said: "To give credit to my predecessors, they did a lot back then and made sure the Blueprint was implemented.'' He added: "I think like any Government initiative, you can't be too far behind the people or too far ahead. "But I'm sure the taxpayer has recognised the investment we have made has been a sound one as we position Bermuda's future and its children's futures.'' EDUCATION ED