A day after Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald defended and touted his work in education over the last four years, Free National Movement Chairman Sidney Collie said that “grades continue to go down under his (Mr. Fitzgerald) tenure”.

On Wednesday, Mr. Fitzgerald in a statement strongly objected to recent comments made by Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis who lambasted the education system.

Mr. Fitzgerald said that Dr. Minnis’ statements were a clear indication that he (Dr. Minnis) is oblivious to the progress made in education over the past several years.

Mr. Fitzgerald among other initiatives, pointed to “A Shared Vision for Education 2030”, conceptualised by his ministry, which he said is a blueprint for the future of education in The Bahamas.

The education minister also alluded to Dr. Minnis’ previous notion of building more schools; and he said that idea is futile without the necessary foundation which is not a physical structure but data-driven decisions and programmes based on research.

Meanwhile, FNM Chairman Collie said he finds it “hilarious that Minister Fitzgerald is trying to tell Bahamians that the FNM should not talk about the education system in a poor light because it is an election year”.

“Does Minister Fitzgerald think he should not be held accountable for the failures of his Government to improve the Education System for the past four years? He likes to tout his plan for the future but before the plan was published he had almost four years to work to improve education yet grades continued to go down under his tenure,” said Mr. Collie.

“Minister Fitzgerald stated in 2013, ‘The Department of Education, we must accept some responsibility for the deficiencies in our mathematics results and our ministry’s failure to implement required strategies to improve not only teaching, but our results in this area.’ Well it has been almost three years since that statement and the most recent data released by the Education Department shows that there is an ‘E’ average in mathematics.”

Mr. Collie added that the reason for Mr. Fitzgerald’s strong defense of the education system is “obvious”.

“It is because they are epically failing in every aspect, from Education to Baha Mar to the high murder rate. Minister Fitzgerald can continue to point to a plan for the future but in his four years as Minister he has no real accomplishments and wants us to continue to believe in his empty rhetoric and broken promises. The FNM will not just present plans after almost four years in office but will immediately work to fix our Education System,” Mr. Collie said.