Anyone has an education programme?
In their Global Competitiveness Report of 2009-2010, the World Economic Forum, organisers of the Davos forum, says that the Mauritian education system is mediocre. This is a very strong word and should be taken with a grain of salt. But, let’s face it, we all know that our current system is not good enough as it does not create enough skilled and innovative people and that’s why most Ministers of Education have tried to change quite a few things over the years.
The 2010 – 2015 period is going to be crucial. The world is changing: more and more countries are transforming into innovation-driven economies and, if we continue in that bizarre trend of eliminating a substantial proportion of children from the education system i.e. keeping the CPE, we risk lacking enough people to make things move in the right direction in the future (remember, Einstein was a late developer and would have been a mécanicien bicyclette in Mauritius…)
In a few weeks, Mauritius will have a new Minister of Education (or the current one, Dr Vasant Bunwaree, will stay in office.) I would love to know what the two major alliances have as programme for the next five years concerning education. On the MMM website it is written that their electoral programme will be online soon. How soon? After the elections? On the PTr website, one can download the programme for the 2005 elections but there’s nothing on the coming one. I guess we might have something in a few weeks. After the elections?
As a citizen of Mauritius and a voter too, I demand that the two alliances have the decency to circulate their programmes.
(Photo by Libby Brooks)
Nobody cares to do the updates. Nobody even had a bloody programme in early 2010. But hey! Mauritians do not need manifestos! They vote according to ethnicity or they `swing.` (every 5 years, a new party comes into power and people rejoice.)
BTW, it’s kinda funny that many are ignoring the fact that everything was highly priced back when Berenger was in power. Or that crime has decreased by 9%.
Mauritians don’t care about information. Votez blanc! Votez indiens! Arou rire nasyons! Sa ki maurice! Et sa pas pou chanzer! Nou culture sa!
I do. I have ideas anyway.
I personally believe that being a mecanicien bicylette would be very relaxing work. And satisfying. Einstein would probably have loved it. Quite a shame for physics and all that but one very happy old man with a white afro.
bicycle repair should be a basic skill taught at a very early age. It would cultivate an interest for beautiful, simple and efficient mechanics.
Another thing is that every new government has their own view on how the education system should work. If they are trying to change things, new ministers usually (in general) do so more out of trying to leave their mark.
One good intention they had recently was to abolish private tuitions and have more extra curricular activities done within school hours. I can’t remember how they called it.
Anyway, it seemed like a good intention but it didn’t seem like they were doing it right.. or at least nowhere near enough of it.
I think that education is one of those things far too important to be left in the hands of politicians.
There should be a separate independent organisation, publicly funded but intelligent enough to realise that tax payers money belongs to the population and does not belong to a particular prime minister and his cabinet even if they are supposed to manage it.
If they actually sat down, came up with a plan what would be meaningful and stuck to it, we’d actually be going somewhere.
did you know that the often invoked reason, if not the main one, to perform well academically, in Mauritius, is to have a means to leave the country? Many of the more clever ones have already left. Those who haven’t left yet probably are looking for ways to.
I’ve also heard somewhere that the faculty of law of the university of mauritius produces an alarmingly large number of lawyers. What happens when everybody becomes law abiding citizens?
What about the debate on having more female representation in Parliament? I heard a very interesting comment from a lady from the public calling the radio this afternoon. She said quality not quantity and I definitely agree with that. Are women being sent to the ‘cage a lions’ where the leaders know that they will be ‘mange cru’ by the opposing party? Food for thought…
@Fadil It’s true that a lot of people tend to be easily influenced. But our education system tends to make us good followers instead of developing our independent minds. Donc, ceci explique cela.
As for people not knowing the facts, I have to say that political parties do not communicate really well. When I listen to the “debates” on the radio these days, politicians are more inclined to insult their opponent (who is their good friend in real life) I read, too, that crime is decreasing in Mauritius but we have a perception that it is increasing. People should really communicate better.
@Yasir Excellent idea(s) I would say. The problem in Mauritius is that we have a new Minister of Education every five years and the first thing he does is to destroy what his predecessor did. This takes two years. Then he has to come up with a new policy. Another two years. Which implies that there is then only year for implementation.
We have been lucky (somewhat) to have had a few good Ministers of Education in the past. But the ones who were bad (and we had one who was abysmal) made us lose years and years and now we are facing the risk of losing some foreign investors due to lack of skilled workforce.
As for the brain drain, sure, it’s happening. But we still have a lot of intelligent people in Mauritius. Most of them are not into politics though. They are busy working.
@Diya You’re right. My feeling is that we are still far from being an egalitarian society. There are a few women in politics. When (if?) elected, they are usually given minor roles. And people are still speaking of quotas which is not a good idea as, as you put it, it’s not about quantity but quality.
My feeling is that our traditional political parties have not been “designed” to be egalitarian. There is still this concept of a “permanent leader” who is always 100% right and if someone is not happy then leve paké alé… What we should have is a leader who is elected by members of the party say every two years… I would love to see something like this in the future
The electoral manifesto of the MMM will be nearly very shortly. Points will be leaked (in advance of the official release of the complete programme) as from today. Please join the MMM fan page and look at the status updates for ‘leaks’ of this programme: http://bit.ly/bHVfgl The first leak will be related to welfare state and the pre-primary.
@Bruno Do you have an idea when the leaks will happen?
Anyone from other parties willing to give us similar leaks?
@avinash
The leaks are already out. Check the status of the MMM fan page, and there will be a list of the leaked points in the “Elections 2010″ tab of the mini-site in the MMM Fan page. The two points leaked so far are:
The MMM pledges for a package of incentives for nurseries (commonly referred to as “crèches”) for both mothers and babies.
The family is at the heart of the party manifesto: the MMM hence pledges an increase in the number of days for maternity/paternity leave.
@Bruno Thanks. I’ll have a look. I’m sure this will give me an opportunity to write a new blog post
To begin with the ministry should meet teachers who are major stakeholders and who know much about the situations in schools. A platform for discussion should be created before reforming or implementing anything. Students should also be consulted. If the ministry consult teachers, get proper feedback and analyse the real situation with the help of pedagogical experts, things would be different.
I think many decisions are taken without proper fieldwork…without being in touch with what is really happening out there. And that’s a pity. There is definitely a serious communication problem and the one-way traffic (ministry to employees/population) doesn’t help. Decisions taken very often do not corroborate with reality and thus reforms fail lamentably.
According to the MMM, L’Alliance de L’Avenir is cursed! | mms://mediaserver2.intnet.mu/mbc/thursday_22_04_10.wmv (Slide to 19:19)
My point is – some people are too idiotic to be elected. (Ref. Sarah Palin)
@Jyotee True. Everyone should be involved in the reforms (orders should not only come from “above”.)
It is also true that Mauritius should aspire to have the same quality of education as countries like the USA, France, India or Singapore. The idea is to have a skilled workforce with a high percentage of innovators and entrepreneurs because the economy is moving towards a service-oriented and innovation-driven one. This will require a lot of changes in the Mauritian education system… that a lot of Ministers have been trying to do over the years with only partial success.
@Fadil I’ll smiled watching Aartee Boodhonee (Alliance du Coeur candidate in No 7) say that the financial, the energy and the food crises came while the Alliance de L’Avenir people were in power. It’s true. But it doesn’t mean anything.
Pravind Jugnauth explique clairement son programme et l’enjeu des elections dans cette video: http://bit.ly/9U5Ytz.
@Bruno J’ai écouté la vidéo (sic) et, sincèrement, bien que cela ne vole pas haut, la plupart des policiens (y compris au MMM) utilise le meme genre de langage lors des congrès et des meetings. C’est la partie folklorique de la politique à Maurice.
QUOTED FROM THE L’Alliance de l’Avenir WEBSITE…
L’Allians de l’Avenir
Créer ène nouveau programme (Work Life Balance) pou bane Madame pou ki zot
10 zafer ki nou pou fer
Unité, Egalité et Modernité
1) Améliore nou réseau routier en construisant ène Harbour Bridge ek ène Port Louis
By-pass
2) Récrute 5,000 nouveau la police pendant 5 prochaines bananés
3) Ré-guette bane contrats l’électricité pou ki la Nation sortie gagnant
4) Développe ène système internet rapide à travers l’île
5) Continuer démocratise l’économie dans tout bane secters incluant tourisme ek
poursuive croissance dans création bane petites et moyennes entreprises
6) Construire 10,000 lacaz pou bane familles à faible et moyen revenu
7) Investi dans population en :
a) Instituant ène nouveau programme (Stay in School) pou régler
problème zenfant ki quitte l’école boner
b) Augmente quantité l’écoles maternelles gouvernma
c) Etanne système apprentissage sous Open University ek bane lézot
alternatives pou gagne ène degré dépi l’université
l’heure travay capav flexible ek zot gagne bane l’options concernant la garde zot
zenfant pendant ki zot pé travay
9) Implémente ène programme (Sustainable Mauritius) pou protèze nou
l’environnement
10) Construire ène Institut médical pou bane Madame ek ène l’hôpital pou zenfants
[...] of the smaller parties. Focus on those topics that really are important to you (I tend to focus on Education and Information Technology myself…). Think about the electoral broadcasts we have been [...]
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