by Sheila Bunwaree and Roukaya Kasenally

The sudden silence regarding the squatting problem at Camp Levieux, could be easily interpreted as a problem resolved. But the reality is that some of the citizens of this country including children are still living in distressing conditions.

It is all very good that there is so much effort being directed towards conscientising children about their rights but children?s rights also include the right to shelter, the right to food, the right to schooling, the right to good health, the right to a safe and sound environment. The plight of the children under the Chapiteau at Camp Levieux is very disturbing. Being deprived from adequate housing means being deprived from one of the most fundamental human rights. Amartya Sen describes development as freedom from want, from disease and from illiteracy but the children under the Chapiteau are diseased, in want and more than likely illiterate. This is the very paradox of Mauritian development.

The violation of such fundamental human rights is tantamount to poverty. It is interesting and shocking that some of our politicians declared openly during the last electoral campaign that they did not realize that there was so much poverty around, leaving us to wonder what politics is all about. If governance means ignorance of the human condition, then there is something rotten in the affairs of the state. Poverty is multidimensional and very complex but we should not wait until its ugly head manifests itself in some form of violence or the other to act. Nor should we wait for opportune electoral campaigns and elections to address poverty. Concern regarding violence and need for peace is often expressed during pre and post election periods, implying that peace can be taken for granted at other times. But peace remains fragile in this neo liberal age. The Peace Research Institute in Harvard draws our attention to the fact that the root cause of conflicts and violence (the absence of peace) is poverty.

Whilst there is a growing consciousness about poverty across the world and efforts are being deployed at all levels locally, regionally and internationally to make poverty history, we must realize that the very history of poverty needs to be understood fully and only then shall we be able to address the fundamentals of the problem. We, Mauritians have a tendency to view the problem as rather small. We often revert to images of dying or starved children in places such as Niger, Madagascar or Sudan to argue that our problem is insignificant. In some ways, this borders complacency.

The history of the children under the chapiteau is perhaps not known but what is known is that their rights are denied and that these children are at risk. A nation whose children are at risk ends up being at risk itself. The only resource that Mauritius has, is its people. Despite all the efforts of the previous government and the present one, we know that many of our children leave school totally illiterate. For years, we are struggling to combat ?l?echec scolaire? but without much success. Improvement in statistics of pass rates from one year to the other does not mean anything. The education poverty nexus runs deep and unless we take the bull by the horns, we run the risk of large segments of our human capital going to waste. There is no doubt that the government is well intentioned and that ?putting people first ?agenda is very laudable but we should perhaps start with these young children living under the chapiteau. They are part of this country?s future and who knows perhaps part of the best brains of the country but they are simply not given a chance.

Addressing the educational problems of Mauritius means much more than making schools convert from ?Form VI schools only? to become ?Form I to VI schools?, the problems of mixed ability schooling, the relevance of the curriculum etc. Tackling the educational problems also means addressing the growing poverty problem in the country.

Let us hope that the democratization of the economy, that we have been promised gets translated into reality and thus help to prevent the nation from falling into a poverty trap. The latter can be avoided if the efforts of each and every stakeholder can be sustained, monitored and integrated so that poverty in Mauritius is addressed in a holistic manner.