Waziim DILMAHOMOD

I have been reading quite a lot about the Gokhool reform and even discussing it with my fellow friends, and indeed, I can assure you that there are different ideologies (if I can use that term) prevailing. The bad thing is that, instead of coming up with and suggesting solutions,everybody only criticises the actions of others? well this may only be the Mauritian culture!

For myself, I would say hats off to Mr Gokhool. That was really an unpopular decision that he took despite the strong opposition. This clearly proves that there are still people who are ready to build, if not, restructure Mauritius.

After the events of the past few months which have shown that the future of the island does not lie in the Textile Industries (or may be?) and very much less in the Sugar Industry, it was therefore primordial that we find the proper direction to which Mauritius should turn itself to in order to sustain its crumbling economy. Of course, one would immediately say that there is the Tourist Industry; but do you really think that, alone, Tourism will be able to hold Mauritius. I would say no! (We should remember that a tsunami can wipe the coast of Mauritius in a few hours!) But, then, there are those who would undoubtedly argue that, ? We have the 5th pillar: the ICT Sector!? Do we? Or so everybody ?stupidly? believes in! Do the 2 cyber towers prove that we have an ICT sector? And especially when they are full of call centres! We should first ask ourselves: why these call centres are here in Mauritius? The answer is very simple: because of the low costs! Then, what happens if the costs get lower somewhere else, say India or China (to name but a few countries).

Again, simple: those call centres would simply switch! Then, what about our ICT sector? Or are there any other options? What I personally believe in, is that Mauritius should invest heavily in its most important asset (right now) and that is its human resources. That is why we should welcome the educational reform initiated by Mr Gokhool ? even though it may be far from perfect.

Undoubtedly we need an elite, but without sacrificing the low and moderate performers. The way the mass think is as follows: since the elite consists of only a small portion of the students, it's better to concentrate on the majority who perform less well than the rather small elite group. However, in that way we lose (or is it not wasting?) the ?cream? of the students. Has anybody thought about why those laureates (almost all) never come back to Mauritius after their studies?

We obviously need to have an elite who'll eventually contribute massively to the economy of the island while at the same time we have to make sure that this is not done to the detriment of the other students. That is why may be the current CPE may not be the most appropriate system of education. The students are too young to be able to withstand the pressure of such a competitive examination. Hence, why not switch the CPE up to another stage when the student is more prepared to face it? That is where the 9-year schooling proposed by Mr Obeegadoo might become very useful. However, I doubt it that even then, there will be parents who will come forward saying that their kids are not ready for that competition. Then, in that case, the ?kid? will never be able to face any competition in his life! Even so, the curriculum still needs a lot of reforms! The Mauritian system of education is too academic-guided. Extra-curricular, cultural and sports activities are almost nonexistent.

At that trend, our young pupils are at a loss even without the stress of a competitive examination! Hasn't anybody thought about that?

Unfortunately, it seems to be inherent in the mentality of Mauritians to only criticise and gossip about the actions of others! In addition, there are parents who have a tendency to force their children to work harder and harder to achieve great heights (and sometimes only to be able to boast to their colleagues or neighbours about the achievement of their children). For these types of people, there exists no reform that would satisfy them! I would also like to mention that we cannot blame the Government or anybody else if the parent forces his child to study when the latter should have been, in fact, playing or watching cartoons!

The reader might feel that I'm biased towards elitism. You are right folks ? I truly am! I believe that we need to exploit the ?grey matter? available in the coming generations in order to eventually produce individuals who will be apt to bring development to Mauritius. What will be the use of making Mauritius a ?knowledge hub? when it will have to import human capital? Then, still there will be, unfortunately, people who will complain about the high level of unemployment while there are foreigners working in Mauritius. Little would they know that these foreigners would be more qualified for those jobs!