The all-round development of the child --- intellectual, physical, social, aesthetic and ethical --- is a sine qua non condition for the progress of humanity. The proposed new school curriculum presented by the Minister of Education last week is an unexpected breath of fresh air in a debate that had become a ?dialogue de sourds?.

If Mauritius wants to progress economically in a stable and worthwhile social environment it needs to address the needs of each and every child and take each child along on a journey of discovery and blossoming of his or her personality. At the end of the journey it is Mauritius itself which will benefit from this new breed of citizens.

Some people are skeptical, even cynical, about the success of, or the motive behind the new educational project. If we think that the project goes in the right direction we cannot start by doubting the good faith of the minister. We have to give it our full support.

However we should also not underestimate the problems that will arise. Vested interests and obscurantist forces are probably busy sharpening their tongues to vitiate the debate by appealing to emotion rather than reason.

Some proposals will inevitably but necessarily take longer than others to be implemented as these will have to be done by stages. There is, for example, no reason to go on with the A+ and the categorization of secondary schools into regional and national colleges. The government should be bold enough to scrap this as from next year and improve the existing grade system (without the A+), which did not give enough weight to the ability to write well and gave too much consideration to the place of residence.

The toughest part of the project is to make continuous assessment an integral part of the teaching-learning process and accepted as a reliable guide to the child?s performance and potential. The greatest advantage of continuous assessment is the use made of it to detect weaknesses and shortcomings at an early age, which will allow remedial action to be taken immediately, instead of waiting for six years, which will be too late then. The teachers will have to play a key role in making a success of this particular aspect of the project. They need to be properly trained but they also need to be given the required resources and support. They will need to feel confident and not stressed and overworked. After all their role in the education of the child will be reinforced. Continuous assessment recognizes the professional competence of teachers.

What is crucial, however, is for the Form III exam to be established before the CPE starts losing its appeal as an instrument of selection. This has to be done gradually before it is eventually dismantled as a pass/fail exam. In this respect the introduction of continuous assessment in Standard I in 2007 is a welcome sign.

The establishment of a calendar for the proposed reforms will show that the ministry means business and will give the required boost to the project. The calendar will at least indicate the different stages of the restructure, and there is no reason why the following time scale for the introduction of the first phase of the project cannot be envisaged:

1. Abolition of A+ and national colleges as from 2007.

2. Establishment of a Form III Exam in 2008.

3. Admission to Form IV in January 2009 based on the performance in the Form III exam with the existing Form VI colleges becoming Upper Secondary Schools and admitting students as from Form IV. Some of the other secondary schools can also be transformed into Upper Secondary schools.

4. Continuous assessment can only be included for the CPE as from 2009 when the Form III exam starts to be recognized as a more important and relevant instrument of evaluation and orientation than the CPE.

There will be many issues to be looked at and many challenges to be faced, but the determination to move ahead should also be there to keep the project on track. Otherwise the breath of fresh air will be diluted in an atmosphere that can become highly polluted.

Surendra BISSOONDOYAL