“Unprecedented Low Of 8,470 Students”
“Total school enrolment decreased by 3% year-over-year to an unprecedented low of 8,470 students,” according to the recently released Bermuda Digest of Statistics 2023.
The document said, “Females comprised 49% of the public school system, 52% of private school pupils and 58% of Bermuda College students.
“Enrolment for Government schools fell 5% resulting in another record low having decreased each of the past ten years. Private school enrolment remained nearly static whereas Bermuda College student figures dipped by 7% over the past year.
“Primary school enrolment decreased 2% to an all-time low of 3,370 students. Middle school enrolment was at its lowest since the inception of the middle school system in 1997. Secondary school enrolment fell by 4%.”
Chart extracted from the report
No doubt the budget for 2024-25 for the Ministry of Education will be increased so the PLP can boast they are spending more on Education. However, in the real world, with the low numbers and closed schools, there must be at least $20m in savings to be made. Wishful dreaming. The waste across the Government account is mindboggling.
As if declining alcohol and food sales weren’t evidence enough of people packing it in for a better life elsewhere, enrollment in schools is glaring evidence as well.
But hey, keep on keeping on. Don’t worry about our massive debt, leave it to the very few Bermudians who will be here and responsible for it in 20 years… you know, OUR GRANDCHILDREN.
People have long packed it in and left that hell-hole.it takes a lot of guts and courage to pack up everything you knew to start over and I don’t know a single person who has left Bermuda and regretted it ????????The system is corrupt beyond measure, serious crime has increased astronomically, the courts do nothing but encourage it, they make the
innocent suffer as if they are
guilty,the threshold now is guilty until Proven innocent in Bermuda ???? the govt ars selling Bermuda to the highest bidder and lining their pockets for when they are kicked out of power… They too are very likely to leave with their millions to create a beautiful life somewhere other than Bermuda!! And will sit back and laugh at everyone who stayed or are stuck in Bermuda, killing each other to survive???? that is where Bermuda is heading.. I’m told the number of people who have left is equal to a whole PARISH.. and it isn’t just Bermudian families who are leaving, the so called hated foreigners are leaving too.. Companies packing up also.. . I see nothing but doom and gloom for Bermuda
are so poorly lit, trees and shrubs growing out into the road, it looks like an overgrown jungle now ????you got homeless people sleeping outside the heart of front street now.. No different to the USA/UK etc.. But imagine the island of Bermuda (paradise) having such visible poverty/homelessness.it is sickening that the people of Bermuda have stood idle and watched the PLP take Bermuda down to this deplorable level so much so that the natives are running from there!!
They didn’t just stand there, they actively voted for this.
Unprecedented times require unprecedented measures. The public can understand reasons for closing some schools. But please don’t let these structures deteriorate and fester. Re-purpose them as community library/tech centers and revive the Community Education courses that were so abruptly cancelled. Interesting to see how TN Tatem was all but condemned due to mold issues, but is presently in use by Tomorrow’s Voices for Autism. So many of our Public schools are in use on Sundays – as churches! We seriously need an Alternative Residential School to address learning/life skills for disadvantaged youth. Don’t send them abroad when they could benefit from family and community support.
“Interesting to see how TN Tatem was all but condemned due to mold issues, but is presently in use by Tomorrow’s Voices for Autism”
T.N. Tatum was rented to various businesses almost as soon as the teachers and students were moved out. Did the PLP Government not make an announcement about that?