Ousted former Education Minister Randy Horton has refuted claims that there has been an exodus of students from the failing public school system.

Mr. Horton, who was sacked by the Premier earlier this month for not implementing educational reform fast enough, told the House of Assembly on Friday that there were only seven fewer students in the system this year than last year.

Referring to the Opposition's claim in its response to the Throne Speech that "the exodus of students from public schools continues" he said there were 5,495 students this year compared to 5,502 last year.

"In essence, it's the same," he said. "It has not improved. Our aim is to improve. I agree that right now people don't have the confidence in the system that they should. It's important to point out that we have not had an exodus in the last year."

Mr. Horton admitted he was frustrated with the pace of implementing the recommendations from last year's Hopkins report. "I was not happy that we were not able to move faster than what we have," he said, adding that he was glad to hear his successor El James acknowledging that the process would take some time.

"Bermuda needs to understand that," said Mr. Horton. "The system didn't break yesterday. The system took years to break. The system is going to take some time to put together."

He said he was confident that public schools could be turned around to the point where people wanted to send their children there.

"There are too many people out there who are having to pay to send their children to school who can't afford it," he added. "We have a responsibility, yes. The pressure is on us to be able to continue to move this reform forward so that we get the result where our children are getting the level of education that they deserve."

Earlier, Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons said that though all could understand Mr. James' request for patience before results are seen, time was of the essence when it came to education.

"There has been a lot of time already spent," he said. "Our students don't have a little more time. We need to move as quickly as possible to get it right. We can't afford to have another few years, another generation of students lost.

"We simply can't afford to have a lot more time spent on that process. You only have to talk to any parent who has got their child in the system now and they are not prepared to give a lot more time. I think the problem is that we really need to move on this fairly promptly."

Dr. Gibbons said he was encouraged by comments made by Mr. James about meeting weekly with the unions.

He said mending fences with teachers and principals and making them feel part of the reform process was crucial to success.

"After all, it's the teachers and the principals that fundamentally are going to have to make this reform work in the classroom," said the former Opposition leader.

Dr. Gibbons questioned whether schools were adhering to a recent amendment to the Education Act which means problem students must now have a development plan. "If schools aren't doing this, then they are breaking the law," he warned.