It is no doubt a usual phenomenon for any discussion on the numerous ills afflicting our system of education to slip into a versatile blame game. Teachers keep complaining about the length of the syllabus to be covered as well as the thickness and dullness of textbooks. Textbook writers lay the blame at the door of teachers, who, they say, instead of working hard prefer to work hardly. Headteachers and Rectors see in parents the target of their blame for arousing unrealistic expectations in children. Parents blame the government for not doing enough of the right stuff for education. Social activists of different stripes blame the State for succumbing readily to various pressures from the rival lobby team. And the media awaken everyone to blame whoever can be found to blame before the next edition is out.

Schools as factories

A pragmatic and radical approach towards education will surely enable this nation to scale greater heights and encourage future generations to question the answers rather than merely answering the questions.

True, the primary priority of our schools, so far, has been to assume the role of factories by forcing our children into a pre-conceived mould. This has inevitably resulted in stifling their natural curiosity and creativity. Our job is to build upon their innate capacity by giving it an opportunity to flourish?

The role of the school is also to make the child reflective and articulate, to encourage him to think for himself, to develop the confidence to act on his own initiative and to consider himself as part of a team where problem-solving, critical self-appraisal and awareness of the value and importance of his involvement and contribution are duly recognised.

Bookish education

The main problem lies with the unwarranted emphasis laid by the system on bookish education. Yet, the idea of enlightened citizenship is hardly compatible with bookish education, though it might have proved successful to a person on an individual level?.

Effective communication

Lack of effective communication leads to ineffectiveness and hampers personal life to a great extent. Communication is something which has to be taught young when still in uniforms and not during adulthood. The Ministry of Education should seriously consider formalising Debate and Quiz Competitions among secondary schools at the regional, zonal and national levels through the creation of a special Unit at the Ministry. Such competitions should become an annual feature culminating in a Gala Night.

The power of dreams : (Auto) biography as a Subject

Children should be taught about the power of dreams, and have a right to know about the great dreamers and achievers like the Wright brothers, Einstein, the Parks, the Gandhis and the Mandelas, amongst so many others. And what about President Abdul Kalam? He is a living example which forces admiration and emulation the world over. They need to know the stories of those men and women who dared to dream and had the courage of their conviction to translate their dream into reality. Such knowledge is beyond the confines of mere books and grades.

Soft skills

The gradual alienation of man from humanity has been the dominant characteristic at the dawn of this millennium... The teaching, on a sound footing, of ?soft skills? like values education, ethics, drama, music, painting, debate etc. can only be salutary. Teaching subjects requires research and breadth of knowledge; imparting values and skills needs expertise and depth of wisdom.

Parents and students as customers

Customers, Competition and Change are three forces that drive companies into a new and unfamiliar operational context. If markets in the ?50?s, ?60?s and ?70?s were more than happy to receive any product, today it is quality product approach aimed at individual customers.

A world class quality education

The above will remain at the level of pious intention if the following three points fail to attract the attention (and necessary action) on the part of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources. Being given the gravity and urgency of the situation, no responsible person can afford to edge away, crabwise, from such situations which are staring us right in the face. If it is easy to dodge our responsibilities, it is certainly less easy to dodge the consequences of having dodged our responsibilities.

1. Effective number of teaching hours

As per a 1993 World Bank Report, the average hours of school each day, and the average days of instruction in a year is among the lowest in Mauritius.

Such being the case, the solution is certainly not hard to find. Additionally, schools, both primary and secondary, have adopted the practice of conducting the Term Examination during the penultimate week of the term, with students being encouraged to stay at home during the last week. With three terms in a year, three solid working weeks thus go down the drain.

● At the SC level, students are greatly encouraged by teachers to steer clear of the school as from the month of July

● Many teachers do not even care to complete the syllabus in class because that is taken care of during tuition classes. And God help those who cannot afford private tuition!

2. Completion of school syllabus through ?walking abreast?

The weekly plan and daily notes of teachers become meaningless if teachers are not made accountable for non-completion of the syllabus. One way of getting round this problem, and diminishing the impact of private tuition as well as monitoring the work of teachers, is to request all schools, primary and secondary, to ?walk abreast? when it comes to covering the syllabus. If in January week 3, std iv pupils in school x in upper Plaines Wilhems are dealing with fractions in the Maths class, all the schools of the island are expected to deal with the same topic concurrently. And this should apply to all the other subjects. Thus, in addition to monitoring the work of the teacher, the ?walking abreast? principle has the added advantage of easing the task of students who, for one reason or another, have to be transferred to another school in another part of the country.

3. The health of the nation

The machine, today, liberates. In most cases, however, such a liberation without planned, guided and meaningful activities only encourages our population to eat more, to drink more and to indulge in a wider range of passive amusements. Thus, such an acquired freedom, far from being an asset, becomes the rock upon which the population is wrecked?.

Conclusion

The school should be a place of light, of learning, of liberty, of leisure to which the child would want to go as ? naturally as a duck to water because the school is the chrysalis in which the child develops wings needed to fly out into the big, wide world. Thus, the essence of the effort of our schools must be to ensure each child has an equal opportunity not be become equal, but to become different ? to realise whatever unique potential of body, mind and spirit he/she possesses. And the second wave of the reform is as important as the first!

Dr Anand D. AWOOTAR PhD, D. LITT