Following an altercation at Government High School last week that resulted in one student being stabbed and two others injured, Free National Movement (FNM) candidate for Montagu Dionisio D'Aguilar yesterday suggested public schools be removed from government responsibility and placed under private control.
"I think our private schools are very well run and they achieve commendable results," said D'Aguilar while on the Guardian Radio talk show Q & A.
"Obviously they are dealing with a different socio-economic group, because those people pay, and I understand that generally when you pay for something you actually appreciate it more, and therefore you push your child to succeed as opposed to getting something for free.
"But I believe that we should start to move our schools under the direction of the entities that presently run our private schools.
"So the Catholic church has a school system, maybe they can take one or two government schools.
"The Anglican [church has a] school system and they can start to incorporate some schools, and you start to remove it from the control of the government.
"This is a firm belief of mine, [that] there is not one thing, except the collection of VAT, that the government runs well.
"There isn't a company that they run well. There isn't an organization they run well, because when it's not yours, you tend to abuse it.
"I think that our school [system has] been troubled for many, many, many years, but until we start to remove it out of the control of the Department of Education... If they've been running it for 43 years, and the best they can achieve is D minus, why do we consistently keep using them to run our schools?"
D'Aguilar is the owner of the Superwash chain and a former director of Baha Mar.

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