The Mauritius College of the Air (MCA) is working on some new educational programmes, which should to be on the air in the coming weeks. Classroom time, Rencontre avec and Meet are the brand new shows being prepared by the local audiovisual institution. These programmes are said to be more focused on format, technical aspects and presentation to attract young people? This is a must considering what the MCA has been producing so far.

?The MCA has tried to do exactly the same thing as what is done in the classroom ?programmes that merely put the school lessons on television ? for a long time,? comments a pedagogue, who has asked not to be named. ?This technique does not take the specificities of audiovisual support into consideration at all, as it is merely a repetition of the teacher?s words on television.?

Sushita Sanjawon from the MCA is reassuring. ?We know that we have to find new tools and ways of attracting students other than the ones used ten or fifteen years ago. We are aware of this and we want a dynamic change. We try and see what others do locally and abroad and I can tell you that there are positive things coming up soon.?

While the educational programmes are seen as a way of raising pupils? interest in educational matters, the MCA seems to have failed in its task so far, according to the pedagogues questioned. Yet, allying entertainment and dynamism in lessons should be a great way of making learning fun to facilitate progress in all subjects.

?Such programmes should be complementary to school but this has never been the case for the MCA. Programmes show teachers giving tuition on television without any interaction ? this is a classroom lesson but in a poorer, limited version, as pupils can?t even ask questions,? declares another educationist. Teachers always tend to adapt their courses to the pupils in front of them. The Mauritian public is very heterogeneous, and these programmes are said to reach only a limited public. ?And there is a risk that they appeal only to the elite who obviously do not need such programmes to succeed in the classroom,? he further explains.

The biggest problem of the MCA appears to be the fact that it has never adapted to school realities and the real needs of the education system. ?Members of the MCA have failed to wonder about the gaps in the education system. Its role is to become complementary to the system by creating a particular niche,? said the first pedagogue. One of its main achievements could be in the realm of language teaching, for instance. As French and English are foreign languages for many pupils who still do not have any exposure to them, the MCA could fill the gap.This could start as early as the pre-primary level, according to both educationists. ?The audiovisual material could be used to develop the children?s listening and understanding skills. In fact, this should go on to the primary level,? said one of them.

<B>Develop general knowledge</B>

For other subjects such as science, history, geography and social science in general, the MCA could also play a part in developing skills and knowledge that the school can?t cater for. General knowledge is only one of them.

Beside pure content, the presentation of programmes also tends to play a great role in the perception people have of the MCA. ?There has been a reflection on the modernisation of the audiovisual tool worldwide? except in Mauritius,? commented the educationist. Mindset, the new South African educational programme is an illustration of this. The professional way the programmes are presented and the friendly way lessons are introduced make learning fun and interesting.

?The Development Works Corporation was closed quite recently. Would anyone feel the difference if a decision was taken to close down the MCA? If the MCA is guilty of a deficit of critical reflection, the authorities are equally responsible for a lack of pressure on the MCA to urge them towards modernisation,? he concluded.