<I>?You cannot solve a problem with the same sort of thinking that created it.?</I> <B>Albert Einstein</B>

<B>THE</B> teaching of the oriental languages in our primary schools was not introduced out of academic or educational consideration but rather came about as part of the struggle of Mauritians of Indian origin for political, social and cultural recognition. Obviously, at first, the standard of teaching and the contents of the oriental languages were not comparable to those of the other subjects but with time both have improved and it is quite normal that they should now be given the same academic status as the other subjects.

However, the Oriental Languages have come down the years with their emotional load so that, today, it is difficult both for the oriental language supporters and those against to forget the historical background and look at the educational aspects only. In fact no one objects to the recognition of the Oriental Language as an academic subject. The problem arises when it is taken into account to compute the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) aggregate. There is a perception that the students of oriental languages will gain an unfair advantage by being able to sit in six subjects and aggregate the five best. Those who do not study an oriental language will not have that choice.

It has been argued that statistics show that the introduction of an oriental language in the computing of aggregates would have made little difference in the top 4,000 pupils at last year?s CPE examinations. This is to be expected. If all pupils score A?s in all their subjects, it does not matter which five subjects are taken but the story would be different as we go down the ladder where C?s, D?s and E?s are more common and an A or a B in one subject would make a lot of difference.

There is no doubt that allowing some students to take an additional subject can be a source of injustice with respect to those who, at the moment, do not have this possibility for whatever reason. It is, therefore, not surprising that non-oriental language speaking sections of the population are trying to restore the balance by proposing the introduction of another subject like Spanish, Computer Science or, lately, Creole. I shall not go into the merits or demerits of doing this. I shall rather try to look at the problem differently.

Introducing another language, e.g. Creole, to balance the introduction of the oriental languages is, to quote Einstein, ?trying to solve the problem with the same sort of thinking that created it?. Let us try to think differently. Let us try to think out of the box. Let us try to forget that we have a language issue. Let us treat the oriental language as any other academic subject. The only difference with the other five other subjects is that, at the moment, it is not studied by all primary school students and, as we have seen, it does make a difference when computing aggregates if some students can aggregate the five best subjects out of six whilst the others do not have this possibility.

I believe the answer does not lie in introducing another subject for those who do not take oriental language but rather to compute the aggregate on four subjects instead of five. So the student who takes five subjects will also have the possibility of a choice.

So I propose the following :-

For the CPE examination, students can take a minimum of five and a maximum of six subjects.

The aggregate be computed on four subjects, these to include mandatorily English, French and Mathematics plus the best out of the other subjects taken by the student.

Thus every student will have a choice. The advantages of the proposed scheme are :-

Emphasis will be placed on English, French and Mathematics which are among the core competencies that we want all Mauritian children to acquire.

It will remove the perceived disadvantage for those who do not want to study an oriental language and have no alternative subject at the moment.

It will hopefully reduce the pressure on the student. The Ministry of Education and Scientific Research will probably argue that some students might neglect certain subjects. That does not really matter at that stage as other important subjects are not being taught at the moment. In any case the whole matter of subjects and contents at primary school has to be reviewed.

If this scheme is accepted by all parties, it will allow things to cool down and create an atmosphere in which all stakeholders will be able to look again carefully at our education system having in mind the welfare and future of our children and the interests of the nation.

<B>K. VENKATASAWMY</B>

Pertinent issue of more examinable subjects at school

B.P. 247