The level of English in Mauritius does not correspond to the much vaunted idea that Mauritius is a bilingual country. The official submission of the “English Language Profiling Report for Mauritius” by British Council director, Simon Ingram-Hill, to the minister of Education, Dharam Gokhool, was an opportunity to underline the difficulties of teaching English and the problems students face. The minister however insisted that the teaching of languages was part of the government’s programme to reach a “world-class education”.

It was also the occasion for the institution for the promotion of English to give the guarantee that it would continue helping Mauritius to boost the level of English. It will provide in-service support for teachers of English, continue to provide technical assistance to the ministry and sustain links with UK institutions.

As announced by l’express a few weeks ago, the report on English commissioned by the ministry of Education a year ago, points at major difficulties in the way students are taught the language resulting in difficulties for them to understand and speak the language properly. The British Council relied on a survey conducted on 2,200 students from 22 schools of all levels and in all regions of the island to draw conclusions on the level of English of students aged 11 to 15.

The conclusion could be summed up in one short sentence contained in the report, “Students in Mauritian schools under-perform in communication both in speech and writing”. The report indeed pointed at the real difficulties of students. Even though most of them master the technical side of the language – grammar and vocabulary – they are incapable of speaking it. This might mean that the problem comes from the way the language is taught – structures or grammar rules are learnt by heart and they only develop automatisms. However, as soon as students have to hold a discussion with someone or write an essay on a given subject, they can’t manage it.

“This suggests the prevalence of this form of teaching/ examining/ learning,” states the report. In other words, the “whole system has to be reviewed” as an English teacher at the Mauritius Institute for Education (MIE) points out. As long as teachers have to follow a strict syllabus to finish the programme to make sure pupils pass their exams, the situation will not change. With this in mind, less competition may certainly help take off pressure from both teachers and pupils.

The British Council seems however to wonder whether English should remain the medium of instruction in the future. Even though the report does not give a direct answer, it seems to suggest that the role of English in the education system should be reviewed. Moreover, it suggests that English should be more present in the daily lives of students and not only as an academic subject. If students were more exposed to “English for fun” though books, magazines or media or even IT, there is no doubt they would acquire more skills in understanding, writing and speaking the language.