The sociologist Raymond Aron notes that ?une nation qui marginalise ses élites est vouée à l?échec ?. President Lee Kwan Yew, as well as many development analysts, insist on the importance of an elite for any country?s development. The questions that are therefore posed for contemporary Mauritius are: Who constitutes an elite, how is an elite produced and how can we renew the already existing elite. In some countries, the intellectual elite, the economic-business elite and the political elite are represented by different groups of people; in others there is an overlapping of 2 and/ or all 3 of these. In Mauritius, the political and economic elite have been quite distinct and remain largely so. The intellectual elite is perhaps the one which cuts across all three. Our colonial history demonstrates how the vast majority of Mauritians ? sons and daughters of slaves and coolies ? have fought their way out of oppression and have worked hard to improve the lives of their children. Many of their children today constitute some kind of elite. Breaking through various forms of bondage and exploitation is possible but there must be some kind of solidarity and unity of purpose. Yet contemporary Mauritius seems to be divided. A pool of people from within the Mauritian elite seem bent on keeping Mauritian society deeply divided, stratified, hierarchical and patriarchal. They want to use the education system for the reproduction of inequalities. There is the risk that the production of an elite remains rather restrictive and/or the renewal of the elite remains within a particular segment of Mauritian society. Many of our leaders are products of a system of education which has been inherited from the colonial model and many of us have gone through a state sponsored competitive system which in many ways have contributed to the successful trajectories of large segments of our society, so much so that some take great pride in their own achievements and conclude that the system cannot be that bad after all. How can we possibly talk of putting people first, respecting the rights of children and working for a more just society if we are prepared to subject the young minds of our nation to an atrociously competitive system which makes no room for sharing, trust cooperation and team work. We often lament the erosion of values and yet we do very little within the educational space to promote these very values.

Starting on an equal footing

The opening sentences of this article may be deceptive, giving the impression that I am one of those favouring the return to elitism in the manner that it is being projected with the so called ?rat race?; certainly not. But I am also not in favour of a system which allows for the emergence of an elite only amongst the wealthy sections of society. When we look at the profiles of students attending schools such as Le Bocage, Clavis , Ecole du Centre, Lycée Labourdonnais etc, they are the children of those who possess not only the necessary economic capital but often the cultural and linguistic capital that the schooling system requires from them. A close examination of those attending the reputable confessional schools shows us that apart from a handful, those attending these schools are from upper middle and upper class families. The vast majority of those ranked amongst the first five hundred at CPE usually come from middle and upper middle class homes. They have the right ?habitus? and can easily adapt to the school ethos. The distribution of income and wealth is closely related with inequality of opportunities. Children who come from disadvantaged homes are rarely able to make it to the well endowed schools. The nouveaux riches and the traditionally wealthy often constitute an elite that is rather concerned with preserving the status quo. They prevent families struggling to break away from the chains of poverty and inequality from doing so. Trapping them in those chains can help to preserve certain vested interests.

What we really need in Mauritius is not the ?rat race? but a race where each one starts on an equal footing. Morrison, Unesco Chair based at the MIE some years ago, drew our attention to how unequal the race track is. Very little has changed since. Our energies should be channelled towards turning a whole generation into the elite of tomorrow. The Mauritian education system has failed too many of its children to be able to continue that route, it cannot and should not privilege the already privileged but should instead turn the greatest numbers of its children into innovative, risk-taking, enlightened minds who are quick to adapt and to solve problem. Mauritius, as we very well know, has lost its only comparative advantage ? cheap labour. Most of its preferential arrangements have also been dismantled. Economic survival will become even more difficult in this increasingly globalised era. We therefore need to optimize on each unit of the country?s human capital and place more emphasis on equity and equitable development, otherwise we will lose out as a nation.

In an article entitled Accessible but not equitable that I wrote in the book Consolidating the Rainbow edited by Marina Carter and in The Marginal in the Miracle- Human capital in Mauritius, published in the International Journal of Educational Development in 2000, I bring to the fore the equity debate arguing that unless the life chances of individuals are improved, there cannot be any form of equitable development. The World Development Report 2006 has chosen ?equity? as its theme. The report states that: ?while careful assessment of policy designs in local contexts is always important, equity considerations need to be brought squarely into the center of both diagnosis and policy. This is not intended as a new framework. It means integrating and extending existing frameworks: equity is central both to the investment environment and to the agenda of empowerment, working through the impact on institutions and specific policy designs. Some may value equity for its own sake, others primarily for its instrumental role in reducing absolute poverty?? Some people argue that there is only relative poverty in Mauritius, almost suggesting that it is all right and that poverty in Mauritius is not too serious a problem. Whether absolute or relative, whether visible or invisible, poverty in any form is a violation of fundamental human rights and constitutes a danger to social cohesion. The citizens of this country have to quickly understand that the playing field is too unleveled and that the growing polarization of Mauritian society will create chasms which are beyond repair. In other words, the ?facture de la fracture? may be too high for all of us. Not too long ago, we saw what happened in France. Paris became a city under siege. Many of the young rioters are products of a very inequitable education system. The latter has failed them. These young people are voiceless and futureless. The high failure rate of our primary schools is a reflection of the inequity of the Mauritian system. Those who swell the numbers in our already overcrowded prisons- both the female and male youth wing are full of young CPE failures and unless we act fast, we will have to build more prisons.

Educational reforms have not succeeded in bringing the equity question at center stage. We hear of democratization, of education but the latter will only be meaningful if the outcomes of schooling could be made more equal and children are given a chance to use their talents and creativity. I have no doubt that all the ministers of Education have tried very hard and have each in their modest ways made some progress towards democratisation but what 21st century calls, especially at a time when the country is being hit by the vagaries of globalization, is some deeper and more profound kind of transformation. Education cannot be truly reformed if attention is focused on the quantitative aspect only. Infrastructure, buildings and transport are certainly important but more importantly , there is a need for a paradigm shift, a revolution of mentality. Quality, relevance, curriculum justice and equity are key to a true transformation of the system.

An excessively competitive mode

Inherent to the Mauritian education system is what Paulo Freire calls ?banking education?. Freire notes that some forms of pedagogy treat children like sponges to be filled rather than being ?dialogical.? Dialogical education give children the opportunity to discover, to be critical, to interrogate, to be inquisitive where as banking education is one where children become the passive recipients of some forms of knowledge. Many of us at the university are well placed to know this. Some of us complain that a large majority of our students come to university without having developed a critical mind in anyway whatsoever and often pursue the rote learning that they have been used to at primary and secondary school. A lot of time has to be spent deconstructing what they have ?learnt? so as to attempt making them develop some critical thinking. Since efforts are currently being deployed to make mauritian education become ?world class? education, let us find ways and means of removing our children from the shackles of an unfair competition and an educational space that stifles the mind. Let us spare our children from the symbolic and psychological violence that an excessively competitive mode imposes. ?Learning to be? and ?Learning to do? that the Unesco/Faure report recommends will not find any space if we choose to go back to the ?rat race.?

Education can certainly help to combat poverty and make Mauritius a more just society but for this to happen, there is a need for all relevant stakeholders to address a range of issues in a holistic manner. Allow me to humbly submit the following recommendations to all those concerned:

1. Address the housing problem urgently. Children cannot succeed at school if they are living under precarious conditions where they are exposed to multiple kinds of risks.

2. Consolidate the regionalisation process by adopting some kind of catchment approach for the secondary level. Make sure that the catchment area is actually respected and operating effectively

3. Build in educational rewards such as scholarships at the regional level for the secondary school students. Scholarships/bursaries could be reserved for the University of Mauritius and the University of Technology. The national laureate scheme absorbs a large portion of the state?s resources, it is perhaps more cost effective to reverse the ?brain drain? into a ?brain gain.?

4. Revisit the recruitment policy for student intake in the secondary schools that are heavily subsidized by the state. A more open and transparent recruitment policy can help to bring about more meritocracy.

5. Consolidate the link between the school and the community, especially the parents.

Parents? role should not be restricted to attending parent teacher?s meetings only.

6. Legislate against private tuition at primary school and improve the work conditions of the primary school teacher.

7. Promote teachers not on the basis of seniority but rather on their qualifications, contribution, commitment and devotion to make the Mauritian school a creative space.

8. Review the recruitment policy of teachers. The latter are the most important agents of transformation/change. Oral tests for teachers have perhaps become a must.

9. Consolidate the learning and teaching of foreign languages at a very young age. Research has shown that children adapt the most to the learning of foreign languages and if done appropriately, Mauritius can be a winner.

10. Make IT and science compulsory up till Form V at least. IT should be available and running in all primary schools. At the moment, the question of IT has only scratched the surface in primary schools.

11. Put an end to an exam driven curriculum and make the latter drive the exams instead. This will also give the possibility of including a whole range of subjects such as art, music, values, sports, tourism studies and entrepreneurial studies etc at primary school, so that children?s multiple talents and competencies can be exploited more fully.

12. Review the curriculum to make it more gender sensitive and ensure that teacher training is genderised as well.

13 .Allocate educational resources in a more gender equitable manner. For instance some girls? schools do not offer certain traditionally ?male? disciplines and vice versa.

14. Challenge patriarchy for a genuine empowerment of women and combat domestic violence. It is very difficult for children to succeed at school if they come from violent homes.

15. Review assessment procedures and abolish automatic promotion so that remedial education can be more effective.

16. Close the gap between preprimary and primary schools by reviewing the content and styles of teaching and learning.

17. Review the Apprenticeship act so as to mitigate child labour and thus reinforce compulsory schooling till the age of 16.

18. Adapt the school calendar year to the climatic conditions of the country so that the winter months are used more effectively, the cyclonic season avoided and productivity enhanced.

The above are just some of the policy measures that can be adopted. Discourses are often politically correct but the translation of these discourses into reality remains a daunting task. It is true that we need consensus in such a sensitive and important area as education but consensus can only be meaningful if there is a constructive politics of opposition and if those who are generally excluded are given a ?voice?. What is perhaps even more urgent at this stage is to address the growing poverty problem which is being exacerbated by rapidly rising unemployment.

Sheila BUNWAREE