The minister of Public utilities, Abu Kasenally, may have pointed at the real problem. After the protests of Phoenix residents following the blockage of the sewage system, the minister announced an education and awareness campaign about the risks of waste disposal into the sewage system. The overflowing on last Saturday evening was indeed caused by the fact that inhabitants had thrown all sorts of waste into the sewage system. This is why the minister called upon the citizens to be more responsible and not to behave in such a way.

Mauritians tend to be quite negligent with their environment. A mere glimpse on one of our public beaches will undeniably prove this statement right. Instead of keeping their beautiful landscape ? and a major source of revenue with a flourishing tourist sector ? clean, Mauritians do not seem very careful about it.

The chairman of the Beach Authority (BA), Dinanath Sungkoora, did not hesitate to stress the citizens? lack of civic responsibility recently. ?People just do not care about the beach. It is sad to say but Mauritians do not know how to take care of their beaches.? He urged upon civic responsibility. ?The effort must really come from the Mauritian who needs to change his or her mentality.?

The BA director, Subash Seeruttun, goes even further. ?The participation of the population in the fight against the dirty state of beaches has a lot to do with its education. We have to give a sense of responsibility to the population and we especially need to focus on young people.?

There are regular examples in everyday life about this lack of civic responsibility. The apathy of many citizens during the chikungunya epidemic or the use of car parks reserved for the disabled by those who are perfectly healthy are just more more examples of the Mauritians? lack of effort.

For the sociologist Sheila Bunwaree, however, ?the problem is not really the fact that people do not have a sense of civic responsibility. It is rather a matter of serious selfishness?. She explains: ?When it comes to their relatives or their immediate environment ? their house or garden ? their attitude will be fundamentally different. People know what it is to help others but they have no respect for people not close to them.?

The problem is certainly one of basic education. Citizenship education is not present as such in the curriculum and teachers are brought to ?exude? some of its values with their pupils as and when they find time. Even at the time when it was a subject in itself, citizenship education was not considered successful because it was not examinable.

The director of the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate (MES), Lucien Finette, is aware of this difficulty. ?I do not think teachers have time to do citizenship education in their classroom. Education at present is exam-oriented and does not train the child as a human being. The system does not give time to the most important facets.?

? The concept of respect for other is not rooted enough in our system of socialization and at school.

The sociologist agrees with the fact that an education that shows what a good citizen is definitely lacks. ?The concept of respect for others is not rooted enough in our system of socialization and at school. Instead of opening children to others, the system tends to make them withdrawn into themselves.?

But school should not be the only scapegoat. More civic responsibility can actually be taught through education at large ? ?formal and informal?. The sociologist points at the parents? duty to instill a sense of civic responsibility into their children. But how can we expect them to do so if they have not been briefed themselves? They can only give the bad example and the society is then caught in a vicious circle.

Informal education through media, non-governmental organizations or competitions like the Civic Action Team organized by the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council could well help fight the growing selfishness of society.

It might take some time before a mind shift occurs, the more so as the society is becoming more individualistic. Awaking a sense of civic responsibility with individuals in that type of society may be even more difficult? But it is worth the effort to try and live in a more human society.