The biggest challenge facing our educational system is the creation of a more comprehensive non-selective secondary system.
25. In an effort to develop a more egalitarian secondary system which will not jeopardize the high standards which exist in our grammar schools, Bermuda introduced the Bermuda Secondary School Certificate, in 1974.
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26. There are three programmes of study which may lead to this Certificate academic, a commercial and a technical/vocational. There is compulsory common core of five basic subjects, including mathematics and English, in all three programmes to facilitate student transfer between them.
27.
The first students to be granted the Bermuda Secondary School Certificate left our schools in 1979. On the basis of this initial experience, it is obvious that the next certificate has the respect of local employers (who were represented on the standard setting committee), principals and teachers. It is anticipated that the Bermuda Secondary School Certificate will become more and more important and useful in the years to come.
Special education
28.
During the past ten years, the Ministry of Education has vastly expanded its range of services which attempt to respond to the special needs of exceptional children.
29.
These services include speech therapy and speech correction; comprehensive physical, educational and psychological testing, programmes for the hearing impaired, the physically handicapped, the visually handicapped, and the mentally retarded.
30.
For the most part, these services are offered within the Government's six special schools. However, in September 1977, the Ministry of Education adopted a new policy aimed at "mainstreaming" handicapped children. As a result of this new policy, a large number of special programme classes have been set up in regular primary and secondary schools. These classes are limited to a maximum of 12 children, and provide individualized instruction in the basic subjects and provide for the personal, social and emotional development and integration of "exceptional" children.
Tertiary education
31.
Although there is no university in Bermuda, local students are able to take one half of the requirements for an undergraduate degree in arts, science, commerce and hotel administration at the Bermuda College, and to complete their first degrees in two years at universities in North America.
32.
The Bermuda College is basically a community college which offers, in addition to an academic programme, a wide variety of technical, commercial and occupational preparatory courses to prepare people for local employment. It also provides opportunities for upgrading and retraining adults, as well as a wide variety of extension courses to satisfy the cultural and aesthetic needs of the adult population.