Column: OBA’s Ben Smith On Education & More
[Opinion column written by the OBA's Ben Smith]
For more than 30 years, Bermuda has attempted to “fix” public education. We have changed structures, renamed schools, hired consultants, and launched wave after wave of big announcements. Every government has said: ‘This reform would be the one that finally delivers results.’
And yet, in 2026, we are still debating the basics. We are still shifting tiers. We are still reorganizing schools. We are still promising stability while families live with uncertainty. After all this time, we still have not answered the most important question:
What is actually wrong with public education?
You cannot fix a problem you refuse to diagnose. For decades, politicians have announced solutions before defining the problem. That’s not leadership.
Political cycles generate quick headlines, not careful analysis. They encourage big reveals, ground breakings, ribbon cuttings, not the slow, steady work of understanding what is happening in classrooms. And that is how we keep ending up here. Reform keeps changing without real progress.
We have adjusted the shape of the system again and again, but we have not confronted the real issues inside it. If structure were the answer, 30 years of restructuring would have solved this long ago.
Those of us who remember the earlier system know it wasn’t perfect. The 11+ exam created pressure and inequity but outcomes were stronger, and families were not paying $25,000 a year just to feel secure. When warnings surfaced about dismantling the system without a full plan, they were set aside.
When warnings were given that this major reform and new system could create antisocial behavior and the forming of gangs it was ignored. We have been trapped in a political tailspin ever since.
Fast forward to where we are after multiple administrations have failed to fix the system. We now have children, especially after Covid, who have experienced rising anxiety, gaps in core skills, and an unstable sense of school identity. Teachers are carrying heavier loads with fewer support. Parents are juggling conflicting messages from officials and feel like they must become full-time investigators just to understand what school their child will attend next year.
Families are voting with their feet. More than half of Bermuda’s children now attend private school. Many others have left the island altogether in search of stability. That is not a plan. That is a warning.
Our teachers are committed. Our children are capable. The system is failing because leadership keeps changing direction without knowing where it is trying to go or communicating why they are going there.
This is not the first time Bermuda has studied its education system. We have had the Education Planning Team of the 1990s, the ABUT Board of Inquiry, Cambridge reports, the Joint Select Committee on Education, the major Hopkins Review, the Learning First consultancy, the parish primary consultations, and years of internal assessments. These were not useless exercises. They identified leadership gaps, curriculum weaknesses, structural issues, and the long-documented struggles inside our schools.
The problem is not that Bermuda never had evidence. The problem is that too many findings were shelved, softened, or selectively used to fit political narratives. This is how a system loses its way. So, before we rush into another version of reform, we must ask the questions that matter:
- What are children actually experiencing in their classrooms?
- What support do teachers truly need?
- Where are the delays, bottlenecks, and disconnects?
- Why are so many students waiting months for assessment or intervention?
- Do teachers feel valued or worn down?
These are not political questions; they are questions every parent asks when thinking about their child’s future. We cannot answer them with another structural diagram or rebranded model. We need clarity that does not change with political tides.
That is why Bermuda needs two urgent steps:
- 1. A full, independent diagnostic review of public education.
Not a repeat of past reports but a synthesis. Take the past 30 years of findings, update them with real data from classrooms, and finally give Bermuda the clear picture it has never received.
- 2. An Independent Education Authority.
A body protected from political cycles, responsible for long-term planning, public reporting, and ensuring that children are not forced to ride the roller coaster of election-driven reforms.
This is how we bring stability to a system that has been shaken for decades.
And let me be clear about something important.
When I say we must be careful in how we talk about public education, I am not talking about avoiding criticism of broken systems. Those criticisms must be made loudly and Ministers can’t hide from those criticisms. What we must avoid is speaking in ways that make children feel like they are broken, or that public-school students are “less than.”
Our children listen and absorb every word. When they hear adults say the system is unstable or confusing, that reflects on leadership not on them. It is our responsibility as adults to ensure they know that they know the difference. The parents are past frustrated and need action, the teachers are frustrated and need to be heard. The students must have a worldclass education and be provided all needed support.
If we finally diagnose what is truly wrong, we can finally build what is truly right.
- Ben Smith, Shadow Minister of Education
