Blog: Education for the 21st Century

Was it a stroke of genius or a deliberate considered decision to split the Ministry of Education and create a separate Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science, Research & Technology. Education was an obsession with SSR and the Labour Party. Paying tribute to SSR, Sir Maurice Patureau, the Guru of the Private Sector, a Minister in the SSR government and a champion of mixed economy said that it has taken him decades to understand this obsession of SSR.

SSR in his lifetime built primary schools in all corners of the country, developed State Secondary Schools, introduced technical education and created the University of Mauritius besides distance learning. Education was rendered free in 1977 by him also. I consider this single factor to be responsible for the development of our country.

However, today, I am worried at the turn of events. On one hand, we want to have one graduate per family and make Mauritius an education hub for the region. On the other hand, the whole focus for the Ministry of Education these days is to introduce Creole not only as a medium of education but as a subject matter till HSC.

I do not think that anybody has any quarrel with Creole language. It is an excellent means of communication, an expression of our culture through its music, dance and the folklore attached to it. I said that I am anxious because I feel once more the Creole population is being misled by its leaders, the Church and some politicians. I have a feeling that the hands of the government are being forced to take such an action without any deep study of the matter. A White Paper is warranted as is the case before taking any major decision.

In Mauritius, the Creole language belongs to all Mauritians. Some believe that the introduction of Creole will create jobs for some teachers just as it has done for oriental languages. The fact is that those jobs will be available to those who are qualified and not reserved to any ethnic group. Similarly, the teaching of languages is not reserved for any ethnic group but to those who master these languages. The same will apply to Creole.

I am fully aware that it is possible to create a language in a lab out of nothing. For the twentieth century, do we have the resources to use the Creole language as a medium for teaching science, mathematics, ICT? Is it worthwhile or are we not leading a section of our population into a ghetto?

There is already a gap between the star schools both from the State, the Church, the private sector. This gap is widened between the rich and the poor, that is, those who can afford private coaching from the best teachers.  I wish the Ministry of Education takes this into consideration and takes remedial actions. The tragedy is that those who are championing the cause of Creole language send their children to specialized star schools. Most of them speak in either English or French at home and I am tempted to accuse them of oppressing the Creole population.

Rather than taking the challenge of languages in education system, it would be more worthwhile to analyze the approach in education as was very lightly put in the Aamir Khan movie - 3 Idiots.

The world has evolved into a global village. The challenge for us is to adapt and prepare ourselves to face fresh challenges. The basic question each parent should ask is 'what education I will give to my child?' Each parent knows in his own way the answer. His child should be trained and prepared to be a global player. As such, what knowledge should the child acquire? Broadly, they should be inculcated with knowledge of science, technology, mathematics, medicine, law, management, arts and economics. We are fortunate in Mauritius that our students can access directly universities through both English and French medium for example, in UK, USA, France, Australia, Canada, India, South Africa among others, giving them the edge.

Yet, today delivering education to one and all demands additional vehicles such as open universities which enable people to study at their own time and pace. There is a movement in the world which wants to bring knowledge in all subjects through the internet. An interest was shown by Mr Gokhool, former Minister of Education, in this technology. Unfortunately, no follow up action was taken.

Till now, our education system is memory based. All our teachers have been trained to impart knowledge which they have acquired yesterday to students who will use them in the future. Knowledge in the world is doubling every one and a half years. Therefore, our teachers need to be trained and updated. This in itself is a gigantic task. Fortunately, we have basic structures like the TEC, MIE, affiliations with international Institutes and now a separate ministry. The status of the teacher should be improved and bring it at par with other professionals, mainly through excellent work conditions and attractive salaries.

Mauritius is set to expand its presence as an Education Hub of the region and compete head on with the countries like Australia, UAE, Malaysia, Singapore and other destinations. Mauritius has definite advantages given the stabilities of all kind and a peaceful and cohesive atmosphere conducive for education.

The mission of the present Minister of Tertiary Education to attract 100,000 students to Mauritius and make Education as an important pillar is not only a dream but an achievable mission. The income from this pillar can be much more than even the tourism. Mauritius has to attract the right skills needed to equip the Institutes and maybe a few incentives have to be worked out in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance.

The present incentive structure of the Government provides for incentives like exemption from conversion tax, LTT and VAT exemption for construction activities. I feel that the Government should consider the incentives like exemption from registration duty and LTT to facilitate the setting up new Tertiary Education Institutes and also Income Tax exemption for professionals in the Tertiary Institutes.

The exemption from Income Tax is particularly important in the health related courses wherein the experts who come to Mauritius are deprived of Private Practice and the same may be compensated by IT exemption to some extent.

With the above background, should we not rethink our policy towards the introduction of Creole language as a medium of instruction and subject matter?

I sincerely believe the resources could be better used by improving the conditions of students from vulnerable groups like what is done with ZEP to help them get equal opportunity to succeed in life. With all the love and respect I have for Creole as a language, learning Creole or using it as a medium of language and as a subject matter will in no way make our children better in the present day scenario.

We should try to equip our children with better resources and make them competitive and independent in this competition age. I am sure and certain that this is an aspiration of every Mauritian parent.