Mar
24

The ideal education system for Mauritius – primary, middle, sc+hsc high school

By bhoot  //  Lallmatie & Mauritius  //  5 Comments

Being good at studies and having attended a star school I might have seen the current education system to be most appropriate to me. I did my CPE, ranked good, went to secondary school… still unsure what I’d become… I did science because it led to more openings according to my parents. I almost did medicine, and corrected myself at the last minute to do something I really love – computers…

Wait, what did I actually learn at primary school? Maths and languages… Does it mean that the (nearly) half who fail CPE aren’t worth going to college? Not everyone is good at math and languages (I’m omitting EVS – now as art, and a few more)…

A more appropriate selection of subject is the large choice you get in Form 1 to Form 3… That’s when you get to know if you’re going to be in one stream and in which one you’re good. That’s where I say the competition should be. CPE level is too harsh for 11 year old children. At 14, they’re more ready for that kind of competition.

People have tried to remove CPE and then introduce them back. Tried to make regional schools and HSC schools. They were flawed. Flawed because of the little time the kids get to adapt to their new school and the lack of proper selection post SC level. Simply grading isn’t enough. So many were not able to perform in these HSC schools…

My ideal solution is to

  • CPE leads you to middle schools, equipped to do Form 1 to Form 3 only, with a variety of subjects. Regional – not the huge zone 2 that covers from Beau Bassin to Trou d’Eau Douce. Smaller ones. Say district or population based. This will reduce fatigue and dropout at CPE level, as well as reduce traffic jam.
  • Middle Schools lead to High Schools that have Form 4-5 to Lower 6-Upper 6. There would be specific schools for each stream: science schools, economics, arts, humanities. Still leading to the same SC and HSC but say a science school would have better equipped labs, specialised teachers, larger library for humanities, theatres and workshops for arts… A lot of money would be saved since Middle Schools would not have as much facilities. Better resource utilisation.

These High Schools would also give the children enough time to develop a sense of belonging during these four years. Even a culture of middle-high school would develop, from a limited vast middle school to a specialised high school.

I’d say it’s possible in Mauritius. We hear of the coming national Form 3 exams… It’s not enough I say. In my above suggestions, CPE will slowly lose it’s importance in favour of Form 3, and ideally we’ll have less dropouts and more people doing things that they really liked. They’d be discovering their aptitudes earlier in life, and that in itself leads to greater productivity in the long run, for the betterment of Mauritius.

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5 Comments to “The ideal education system for Mauritius – primary, middle, sc+hsc high school”

  • Yashvin 25 March 2010 at 11:34

    Totally agree with you. But you have perhaps guesses, it will take time. Lot of time.
    Yes, we should start from somewhere, the form 3 national exams may be the first step. But what do you think about tuitions in lower classes of primary schools? Standard 3 or 4?
    I would like to hear what you got to say abt this.

  • bhoot 25 March 2010 at 23:08

    I think children should not be burdened since standard 3. What more will they learn? The way it’s set here, is that the whole class has to follow tuition, not just the slow learners…

    There are benefits, you’re training them to be competitive early in life, but isn’t that already in place from Std 5 and 6?

    If there were classes where they’d be taught genuine extra curricular activities (you’d need qualified teachers for that too), it might have been worth it…

  • Yashvin 29 March 2010 at 09:49

    Thnks, Hey bhoot, please install a “Subscribe to comments” plugin on your blog.
    It will really help to get email updates about new comments. N keep blogging dear! ;)

    btw, there is a survey going on right now for the next bloggers’ meeting, check it out here n hope u gonna be there!

    http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5LQW5PV

  • Avinash Meetoo 1 May 2010 at 07:38

    I have been blogging about education for a long time now. Deep inside, I feel that there are two major problems with our education system:

    (1) What is the objective of going through 13 years of schooling? Passing exams only? Or becoming a productive adult? It’s not clear.

    (2) There are not enough good teachers. I have worked at tertiary level and most teachers I’ve met were just ordinary. The problem is that teachers must aspire students to greatness… and I fail to understand how this will occur with average teachers. Of course, the lack of good teachers can be attributed to the fact that young people are not becoming teachers because they are getting better offers in companies…

  • Fatimah 17 April 2011 at 10:09

    Hi bhoot!
    Ur concept seems uthoptian. Y so because we are so much dependent on the educational policies dictated by our politicians in power. Once in office all they want to do is leave their signatures on reforms without grounded research for those changes. They often pick good ideas from their predecessors and very few really invest themselves in an element of continuity.

    You are right to say that our educational system not going towards a holistic development of the child. Who should be blamed for it? The actual minister did think abt it by introducing enhancement programs in standard IV and activity periods in our secondary education. Well lets try to make a survey and see how its being implemented in schools. Would you blame the average teachers Mr Meetoo? What about the resources the government should provide? Personally, I was happy to see this activity period amendment but unfortunately I am in a college where the rector said all common tests to be carried out during activity periods. Common tests at all levels is indeed a good means to evaluate but in my case its in detrement of those activities. I love Drama (acting), its even preconised in the National Curriculum Framework. Do you hear about any course or enforcement programmes for teachers in order to be able to implement reforms? See the work of Scweisfurth (2002) about teacher factor in reform and its implementation. You know what? Look at ourselves we’ve got good ideas which can be tackled through researches. What we need are platforms which would facilitate such researches. As you are well aware about the power of researches, may be this might help in changing the mindset.

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