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Exam fees furore: a reflection of our society
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Exam fees furore: a reflection of our society
Of late, I have heard via the Internet of the uproar made by some people on the Rs10,000 exam fees that SC and HSC candidates will have to cough out on their own now that the government is not subsidizing them anymore.
While these concerns are legitimate for a needy few, I put it bluntly that too many in Mauritius have convinced themselves that they are living in freebie-land: free education, free transport, free health system …. My experience of late in Mauritius is that our freebie social net is dangerously breeding even higher levels of irresponsibility.
On a recent morning radio show, a student called in to express his “outrage” at being asked for Rs 300 to replace the bus pass that he had lost. He stated that he was an orphan who lived with his sister. He was receiving a monthly allowance from the Ministry of Social Security which he claimed was not enough. He insisted that because of his circumstances, a new pass should be provided free to him, which I think was fair. A caller offered to pay the Rs 300. But then, I was appalled when not only he had to be prompted to say “Merci” to the donor but he went on to state that all lost passes should be replaced free of charge. Wouldn’t fewer passes will be lost if we had to pay for them?
Typical pass - the - blame tirade</B>
Back to the SC / HSC exam fees. Isn’t this Rs10,000 an “investment” that will be recouped in a matter of months when one takes employment? Yet, it is so baffling that so many are myopic to the merits in investing in themselves or their children. Financial institutions can obviously help their corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty agenda by providing loans to needy candidates.
Some personal sacrifices will obviously help and this was clearly not something that the radio show callers offered to do. It was the typical pass the blame tirade. My parents did not think of anything else than putting in 16 hour working days to provide for their children. Surely, such people still exist in Mauritius.
About Rs 100 million rupees went up in smoke in the form of firecrackers on December 31. Think about it: that would have financed 10,000 or about 40% of the candidates taking part annually in SC / HSC exams! I submit that the government would gain popularity points if it applied a 100% duty tariff on the import of firecrackers and used the proceeds to subsidize or finance the needy SC / HSC exam candidates.
Some have suggested to lower or “better still” remove the exam fees by bypassing Cambridge and preparing the SC and HSC exam papers in Mauritius. This is not a sound idea as it will cost us even more to have our certificates recognized overseas.
Let me now share another downside to the freebie mentality. I spent a big part of my recent December holidays on a renovation project at my primary school in Vacoas. I was shocked by the bareness in the classrooms. They were definitely more pedagogically friendly when I was there 40 years ago! There were hardly any teaching aids. Why don’t parents contribute a small amount of money (in my opinion, Rs 100 per child will do for a year) so that material can be bought to enliven instruction in the classroom? If each pupil contributes a book, then he/she then gets to take a book back home each week to read. I submit that for such a small investment per child, parents and children will motivate the teachers and make them more accountable. If parents do not care, why should the teachers care?
Freebies correlate with low appreciation, low stakeholding and, as we have often experienced, low quality and low service. This can be costly to a society in the long run. A small investment in time or money can make a world of difference.
<B>Dr Singfat CHU</B> <I><B>Singapore</I></B>
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