I have sought far and wide to find out what constitutes a ?good? school. There are out there a bewildering number of diverse answers. But today, when many ex-CPE pupils (and their loving parents) are faced with the choice of a school for 2006, I shall give here only one set of answers for what constitutes an ideal school. It is a very personal and child-centred answer, focused on the schooling of adolescents. A good, secondary school or college will provide me with six things, during the years I am to live and learn there:-

● a safe environment in which to learn, improve myself and develop;

● a one-to-one relationship with caring and knowledgeable adults;

● a healthy start to adolescent life and a healthy future in perspective;

● a set of marketable skills (including that of innovation) to use when I?ve completed schooling;

● a chance to give back to peers and country what I have received;

● and, above all,

● a foundation in human values to guide me throughout life, as a free and responsible individual.

As you will have noted, the above list is a call to evaluate a school entirely by results, i.e. what positive things it can bring to your child.

One of the best ways of knowing how good a restaurant is on a particular evening is to ask diners coming out. Similarly, ask past students about their school, or, maybe, don?t ask, just interact with them and judge for yourself! Which is why, to take but one example, so many mothers in Calcutta, or Nairobi or here in Mauritius, wish for a Loreto school for their daughters having been there themselves. Or is it the father who wishes for his daughter what he sees in his wife? Whatever it may be, a good school is NOT in the name, the size and newness of the buildings (ah, but look at how well maintained it is!), or the level of fees (for an independent school), NOR is it the number of laureates or the percentage pass.

To achieve the above six aims, the last in particular, schools are to be run by ascetic thinkers, devoted to saving the world through saving each individual child. No less! True education is not to be confused with the running of a supermarket or a hotel; both hotels and supermarkets are essential features of modern living, but they do not pretend to radically change their clients during their stay or shopping trips !

Gone is the old and harmful classification of secondary schools as A-schools and B-schools, by the PSSA. Today, secondary schools offering entry into Form 1 could be loosely assembled into six groups, each with a more or less well-defined approach to education. These are:-

● Confessional schools (including BEC schools and other confessions)

● State Secondary Schools (or SSS, designed and equipped to cover Forms 1-5)

● The ?London-Mauritius? college group, comprising 15 institutions.

● Other private colleges, part of the free education system

● Pre-vocational schools (often and ideally part of one of the above schools), catering for non-academic CPE pupils

● International and French schools (i.e. Le Bocage, Northfields, the Lycées LaBourbonnais, Mascareignes, Nord, etc), all fee-paying.

It is pleasing to recognise such a healthy diversity of secondary schools at the disposal of parents in this country, a sure sign of the country?s maturity.

<B>Dr. Michael ATCHIA

[email protected]

http://www.michael-atchia.info</B>