Well that was fast. The UBP just blasted out this press release, responding to the Education Reform Broadcast.
‘A total condemnation’Statement by United Bermuda Party Leader
Michael Dunkley, JP, MP on the Hopkins Report
There are clearly recommendations in the Hopkins report which warrant serious study and which we will comment upon in the days ahead.
But let us be clear about one thing: this report is a total condemnation of the PLP Government’s management of public education.
It is our view that the PLP Government does not have the credibility, the ministerial skills or the collective will to carry out meaningful and effective reform of our education system, particularly on the scale proposed in tonight’s address.
The report brings to a head the question of confidence about the Government’s competence that all Bermudians must weigh in the days ahead.
There can be no further excuses and no further dodging of responsibility on this vital issue. There must be accountability.
We are particularly critical of the way the Premier positioned himself in last night’s broadcast as somehow separate and above the situation, as though he has played no part in it, despite the fact that he has been a senior member of the very governments that presided over the decline in public education.
To call for the “re-professionalization” of the ministry and teachers, as Dr. Hopkins does, does not go far enough. The Brown Government must take responsibility. We therefore call for the resignation of Mr. Horton, in order to establish the principal of accountability going forward.
Unless that step is taken, we believe educators and bureaucrats will be less receptive to the proposed reforms.
The Hopkins report is clear: PLP Governments have presided over a catastrophic decline in the quality of public school education. The problem has worsened over the years. They have known about it, they have watched it and they have not done anything about it but to throw up their hands and call in overseas experts.
Their stewardship of public education has been a top-to-bottom disaster, and they should be held accountable for it. One TV special – which they could not even broadcast at the advertised time – should not let Government off the hook.
The Hopkins report validates many of the recommendations already put forward by the United Bermuda Party and, in particular, by our former Shadow Education Minister Neville Darrell. It contains some helpful answers to the current situation, but we believe Bermuda needs a new team to turn this around. The United Bermuda Party is ready. We will deliver.
May 3, 2007
