Till the year 2002 Oral English was a paper assessed on its own at School Certificate level. This idea was most welcome in the Mauritian world of education as it was a means to encourage students to pay more attention to spoken English and probably help them to think in English as most of their papers for the SC-GCE exams are written in English.

Then in 2003, the Ministry of Education & Scientific Research took the decision to integrate Oral English marks with those of the two written papers in English language. Subsequently, the Oral English Examinations were held according to this new scheme during the month of July-August 2003 and 2004.

After a feedback obtained from teachers who worked for the Oral English examinations and pupils who sat for the oral examinations throughout the island, a host of questions that could be asked to the policy-makers of this country comes to the surface.

Does the examining body possess a list of criteria for assessment for acceptable spoken English including a list of words with the correct pronunciation sent to all schools in Mauritius? Who are the examiners of the Oral Examinations?

Are the examiners sufficiently trained to assess and give marks to students even if qualification wise they are eligible? In the event that a student pronounces a word correctly and the examiners decide for several reasons that the word is incorrectly pronounced, what action will the examining body take to see to it that the student is not unjustly penalized? What if a student happens to be examined by his or her own school or tuition teacher or a relative?

Mauritians speak Mauritian English

In the event, parents of candidates apply for a remarking of the Oral English Examinations, what steps will the MES take to satisfy their demands? Will the MES then consider the idea of TAPE-RECORDING all examination sessions?

Finally by which standard are the SC students of Mauritius judged?

In addition to the above, arises the very fundamental question of reliability and validity of this oral examination followed by another compelling one which speculates on the necessity of this combination of marks. What the decision makers on this subject have failed to take into consideration is that Mauritians speak Mauritian English just like Americans speak American English, Africans speak African English, Indians speak Indian English and so on so forth. The children of Mauritius could have spoken British English to satisfy the requirements of the Oral English Examination only if they would have been continuously exposed to English in their daily life inside and outside school. The most popular newspapers of Mauritius are written in French and news are broadcast in French and Hindi at a time the majority of the population has time to watch TV. To top it all, most American and English films on TV are dubbed in French.

How and when will they then learn to speak the English required for examination purposes?

In conclusion, the general feeling amongst teachers and students is that Oral English certainly can very well have its place in the secondary school curriculum as an examinable subject on its own but not as an integrated component together with the written papers. Mauritian students should indeed not be penalised for having, according to certain examiners, pronounced certain words incorrectly. Also, at a time when creole, the mother tongue of most Mauritian children, is being given so much of importance in the teaching-learning process at school, does it make sense to add Oral English Examination marks to those of the written English papers and consequently make it difficult for them to score good grades in English language?

<B>Daman BEHAREE</B>

(Rector of Professor Basdeo

Bissoondoyal College Girls)