Ledikasyon pu travayer (LPT) is getting ready for the International Day of Creole language and culture. Beside a conference by Lindsay Collen held on Saturday at the LPT office in Grande-Rivière on the contribution of Creole, the association will be launching a series of courses targeting expatriates from all over the world who wish to learn Creole. All those interested will have to be at the LPT office on Saturday to be enrolled for the tuition sessions.

?We have realised that a growing number of people are coming to work in Mauritius for a couple of years on a contract basis; these people have absolutely no idea of Creole. Hence, we thought we could help them feel more integrated into Mauritian social life or feel more comfortable in their professions for instance,? explains Alain Ah-Vee. This will actually not be the first time LPT provides Creole lessons for expatriates. ?We used to do it on specific requests. We often have people coming to ask us why we have not set up such courses. So, when we have a certain number of ?students?, we just set up a small group and give them the basics of the language.? This time, LPT is seizing the opportunity of the World Day to set up a real programme at a national level.

The course will give much importance to the grammar of the language and will involve a ?practical? part. Trainers will use concrete situations to help expatriates in their daily lives - ?in the bus?, ?at the market?, ?in the office?, ?at a conventional meal?. The package of four sessions will cost Rs 1,000.

But the LPT intends to make a bigger contribution to the development of the language. On Saturday, they will also be offering a second course to the public on learning to write Creole properly. This will not only help the ?students? but also the ?teachers? ? members of the LPT committee ? who will be forced to conduct an in-depth study of Creole grammar. ?We hope this will help the debate to move forward,? says Alain Ah-Vee. And why not to see Creole get into the realm of education as the official medium of instruction?

<B>LPT asks Gokhool to review language policy

In a letter to the minister of Education, Dharam Gokhool, LPT does not mince its words when it speaks of a ?linguistic genocide perpetrated through the school system?. The letter wants to make it clear how a mother-tongue based education can lead to better multi-linguistic results for all students ? and avoid a situation where citizens speak approximate English and French. As it bases itself on various researchby international institutions (like Unesco for instance), the letter points at the lack of action by the former government and hopes that the present one will show more interest in pupils? futures.