Column: Senator Jason Hayward On Education

January 23, 2019

[Opinion column written by Junior Minister of Education Senator Jason Hayward]

As the government seeks to grow and diversify our economy, we must ensure that our youth have every opportunity to be full participants in the economy of today and tomorrow’s Bermuda.

Whether it is ensuring the education systems has the resources to be effective, expanding access to higher education with more funding for scholarships and grants or ensuring we have strategies to transition our youth into the workforce through the implementation of the National Workforce Development Plan the Government is working hard to ensure that as the economy grows Bermudians will not be left behind.

Just a few months ago the Government promised our youth and their families that we would:

  • Revive the Cabinet internship programme to secure fresh Bermudian talent for careers in the Civil Service and
  • That opportunities would be created for young Bermudians based in London, Brussels and Washington DC to shadow the government’s representatives and gain invaluable experience on the world stage

Last week, the Premier announced the fulfilment of that pledge unveiling three programmes.

  • 1. The Workforce Development ‘Enhanced Programme,” where the top 5 Bermudian undergraduate summer student applicants will be assigned to the Cabinet office. There they will work on significant projects in the area of policy and strategy in the delivery of the government’s agenda to deliver a better, fairer Bermuda Government. They will also have the opportunity to serve in areas that match their areas of interest or course of study within the civil service
  • 2. The Summer Internship Programme, where three Bermudian postgraduate or Master’s Degree candidates will be assigned to our overseas offices for up to twelve weeks.
  • 3. Leadership Scholars, where the top students at CedarBridge Academy and The Berkeley Institute will be invited to accompany the Premier and the Bermuda delegation to the Heads of Government meeting in Caricom later this year. There they will experience first-hand, the critical meetings and discussions that take place at these annual gatherings.

These initiatives re-enforce the Government’s commitment to support our youth and young adults, by proving them with first class opportunities that will assist them in developing their skill sets and gain valuable workplace experiences charting them on pathways to successful and fulling careers.

We believe that Bermudians must come first in our own country and that we cannot make the mistakes of the past where economic successes left Bermudians sidelined. To us, a better, fairer Bermuda means our children have the education, experience and tools to get hired, advance and run our own companies right here in Bermuda. Today, with the fulfilment of this promise and the creation of new opportunities for our youth, we are another step further along the road towards a better, fairer Bermuda.

- Jason Hayward

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Comments (7)

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  1. 2 Bermudas says:

    Still not getting value in the public education system being that we spend more per head in public schools than private schools!!! Take the titty milk out of education!!

  2. Ringmaster says:

    The last thing Bermuda needs or can afford is more civil servants. That does not grow the economy, it does exactly the opposite. Regarding jobs generally the PLP are making it harder than ever to increase jobs, except in the civil service, by their incessant increases in taxes on the private sector. What steps has the PLP taken to generate private sector jobs? One example with numbers will do.

    • sandgrownan says:

      Exactly, we don’t need more civil servants, we need significantly less. We need net contributors to the economy.

  3. Concerned Bermudian says:

    You had a chance when you could have spent at least some of that 1.2 million dollars of our tax funds for enhancing our children’s future, but no! You gave it all to one single millionaire, possibly even billionaire. PLP. Actions speak louder than words blah blah blah you just don’t give a damn. We hear you loud and clear! You need to go, you are ruining our home.

  4. aceboy says:

    Training for more government jawbs. Great! Just what we need!

  5. Joe Bloggs says:

    “We believe that Bermudians must come first in our own country and that we cannot make the mistakes of the past where economic successes left Bermudians sidelined.”

    You sound like Donald Trump, but I understand that that is the PLP platform. The economic successes of which you speak kept Bermudians employed.

    Bermudians may not have owned Ace or XL or Marriott Castle Harbour Hotel or Elbow Beach Hotel but Bermudians worked there and that is better than noting.

    “To us, a better, fairer Bermuda means our children have the education, experience and tools to get hired, advance and run our own companies right here in Bermuda.”

    Ok, but who will be left to be customers of those businesses? In case you haven’t noticed, Bermuda continues to lose executive jobs.

    It is those rich foreigners who spend money in Bermuda and that money gets spread around to the owner of the nice home the executive rents, to the gardeners for that home, to the cleaner of that that home, the private school the children go to (even though the executive still pays taxes that fund our public education system), the Bermudian-owned grocery store the executive buys his food at and so on.

    Once you drive all the rich foreigners away, Bermuda will be for Bermudians just like Zimbabwe is now for Zimbabweans

  6. wake up says:

    This guy really has no sense. how is he in the position he is in?