The ?poor relation? of education is finally getting attention. ?L?express? proposes, as an exclusive, the major guidelines of a reform plan meant to energise technical education and vocational training. They mean to integrate different bodies, rationalise training and use existing potential.

Three years after coming into office, the minister of Education, Dharam Gokhool, delivers his ambitious Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) reform plan. This strategy should be seen as an alternative path to academic education and aims to change the perception that TVET is the last resort. The less one can say is that there?s definitely room for improvement. "The potential training for TVET is enormous. There are those who do not complete the mainstream education system every year, that is the drop-outs in secondary school before School Certificate (SC) plus those who fail SC plus those who pass SC but do not go for HSC plus those who fail HSC. This amounts to about 12,600 per year. On the other hand, there is need for continuous up-skilling and lifelong training of a labour force of the order of 500,000.?

This extract from the report sets the tone. The challenge facing the TVET system is enormous given that the actual capacity of in-service training in Mauritius does not exceed 40,000. Hence access capacity to TVET should be explored ?from all possible quarters?, namely existing public and private training institutions, underutilised facilities in secondary schools, workplaces, etc.

Presently, there are two major public institutions addressing the sector. These are the Industrial Vocational Training Board and the Technical Schools Management Trust Fund (TSMTF), which runs the Lycée polytechnique Sir Guy Forget, the Swami Dayanand Institute of Management and the Institut supérieur de Technologie at Rose-Hill.

For better coherence and to address the need to rationalize and optimize scarce resources, the plan proposes to merge the IVTB and the TSMTF. One overarching institution, the Mauritius Industrial Training and Technical Edu-cation Council (MITTEC), will be set up to take over the roles and responsibilities of those institutions. It will harmonize the present structures and avoid duplication of training programs, training resources as well as administrative resources. All the assets will be transferred to the MITTEC.

This new organization ?will be called upon to be the body responsible to steer and implement the new TVET strategy reform? and it will ?help in reducing any unnecessary confusion and ambiguity?, states the reform document.

Pathways from lowest to highest qualifications

The other important parts of the new strategy will be the Institutes of Further Education and Training (IFET). They will help ensure a constant supply of middle cadres and high-calibre technicians. To cut costs, it is proposed to adopt a phased approach. The plan proposes to transform the Ecole hôtelière Sir Gaëtan Duval, the School of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications from IVTB and the Lycée polytechnique Sir Guy Forget into IFETs in the first place. Other large multi-sectored training centres will be gradually upgraded to become IFETs. Small training centres, as in Mahébourg and Surinam would become IFET feeders.

Under-utilised facilities in State Secondary Schools and industrial estates around the island would be put at the disposal of MITTEC, thus helping the decentralization process. In addition, new training centres, e.g. Plaine-Verte, would be constructed. Those new IFETS would offer qualifications through full-time, part-time and even mixed modes of training, including apprenticeship and e-learning. The report states that the possibility for those IFETS to offer degree courses should be seriously explored.

The plan proposes to establish pathways from the lowest qualifications to the highest. Introducing the relevant articulation between TVET and the academic streams could do this. The new proposed system will allow going for NTC 3 as soon as from Form III.

Prevocational education (PVE), which targets youngsters who have failed twice at the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) exams, will be revamped. The structure and curriculum are presently being reviewed to give students leaving PVE direct admission into NTC 3 training programs thus eliminating the NTC Foundation Course they complete after three years PVE.

This reform wouldn?t be complete without a stronger partnership with the private sector. The final aim of the report is to respond to the needs of the public and private sector. Various initiatives will be taken to enhance collaboration between those two. ?There is a need to get employers right at the heart of the system if we are to beat the skills problem.?Also, ?as business and industry mature and strengthen, some of the responsibility for providing training should gradually shift to the private sector?.

Another objective is to transform Mauritius into a confirmed leader in TVET in the region. Therefore, MITTEC should become a regional training centre of excellence, awarding internationally recognized qualifications.