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Jimmy HARMON
<I><B>Prevokbek coordinator</B></I>
As the coodinator of Prevokbek, what are your first impressions regarding the Unesco report on education in Mauritius?</B>
Basically, I am not shocked with the content of the report as it confirmed my previous observations. However, I was really happy to see that at least we have a report that is intellectually honest from academic experts.
The best thing is that this report has been written by people who come from outside to give a neutral opinion of the situation. I just hope that it will have positive consequences on our reform. But if measures are taken, things need to be done cautiously!
Some people are said to be shocked with this report. What is so shocking about it, according to you?</B>
It’s not the report as such which is shocking but it is our inability over the years to boldly address the critical issues raised therein! Some people are surely most upset when the report says that the Ministry expends considerable resources on offering ancestral languages while the national language is ignored. It’s sure that these issues are complex! Nobody wants to go into linguistic warfare. But that’s not an excuse for the harm that we, adults, are doing to our kids. How is it that we are investing billions in education and that our levels of literacy and numeracy are still low?
What are the most important recommendations in this report?</B>
I think our policy makers must urgently address the recommendations with regard to finding an alternative mode of examination for the end of the primary cycle in the light of compulsory education up to 16; enhancing a monitoring culture in all reform projects to achieve quality education and surely most important of all exploring strategies to achieve basic literacy and numeracy skills.
Which recommendation(s) is the BEC going to follow and how are they going to proceed?</B>
As far as the BEC is concerned, I think it is the literacy and numeracy strategies recommendations, which need to be looked into. In this context, the Prevokbek program upon which we have been working since last year has engaged an Action Research Strategy addressing the issue of mother tongue to achieve literacy and numeracy. We are elaborating the conceptual framework, the methodologies and the monitoring processes. We hope by the year 2013 to start some pilot projects in our primary schools.
How do you see the evolution of the level of education in Mauritius so far?</B>
I am not going to be negative. I personally think that there has always been a desire to improve our system. Moreover, there have been different initiatives taken. These initiatives have been taken in good faith. But we have always been shy to talk about the crucial question of our mode of examination and of the mother tongue issue!
Our policy makers have not been audacious enough to talk about these two issues. I think that it is now high time that we address them. But the focus should be not on language. It should be on how to achieve literacy and numeracy during the first three years of primary education! Otherwise, if we engage ourselves in a linguistic debate we will get trapped!
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