Education Minister under fire during scholarship sit in

What was supposed to be a silent sit in on Cabinet grounds today turned loud and unruly briefly as Education and Economic Development Minister Dr. Grant Gibbons told participants that his budget had to be cut like all other Ministries, while he stressed that the economic path his Ministry was on was not sustainable.

The sit in, which garnered approximately 200 attendees, was organized by then-Shadow Education Minister Walton Brown Jr. in protest of the One Bermuda Alliance Government slashing the scholarship funding available for Further Education Awards by 95 percent. In 2012, $760,000 was allotted for the educational awards, compared to $40,000 during this fiscal year.

Among the protesters were notable figures such as former Principal of The Berkeley Institute, Michelle Simmons, former Bermuda Industrial Union leader Ottiwell Simmons and advocacy lawyer Michelle St. Jane. A number of students from the both of the Island’s public senior schools were in attendance as well.

At the commencement of the sit in, Shadow Education Minister Lovitta Foggo said the Island’s mature students will be left out of employment opportunities with the slashing of the scholarship budget.

“All too often that particular category of people have been overlooked and aren’t often seen as being those students who indeed need the finances to ensure that they have the skillset to take over in the workforce.”

While she acknowledged the reliance of guest workers in the white collar sector of the labour market, Ms Foggo said it is important that we assist locals in order to ensure that they are always the top choice when it comes to receiving employment in Bermuda, and that can only be done by ensuring that they have the necessary qualifications to take on those jobs.

As he emphasized that the Government is fully aware of the importance of the scholarships, Dr. Gibbons said there was a degree of flexibility in which the $1 million currently allocated for scholarships can be shifted according to need, and added the Board of Education’s scholarship committee is reviewing all applications to ascertain that.

However, when Dr. Gibbons said, “One of the problems the current Government has is that it has been handed a real mess from the former Government” he was jeered by the crowd.

One protester shouted, “Have you looked under the hood yet?” to which the Minister replied: “I have.”

At one point, it became so loud that Dr. Gibbons could barely be heard as he continued his address to the crowd, with hecklers saying: “Take the money out of your pay” and “Take it from the Tourism Board.”

Dr. Gibbons went on to say that students currently enrolled in the Bermuda Public School System cannot be short-changed which is why the Government has invested in professional development and Early Childhood Education, causing one woman, who described herself as a high school teacher demanding to know how.

“Tell them how you do not want them to go any further,” she added.

Meanwhile Destiny Taylor, President of the Student Government Association at CedarBridge Academy read a letter to Dr. Gibbons and told him that she and her fellow students were very disappointed with the budget allocation and that many of them would have no other means of obtaining a tertiary education if it was not for Government scholarships and implored for the decision to cut the budget, reversed.

Expressing his concern with the cuts, Opposition Senator Diallo Rabain questioned Dr. Gibbons’ assertion that the Government wanted to improve Early Childhood Education when in fact, its budget had been reduced. Noting that the $1million allocation for scholarships is to cover existing and new recipients, Mr. Rabain said it actually left very little monies for awards and scholarships.