English is the official language and medium of instruction in this country. It obviously holds a key position in the linguistic landscape and its development. As such, it has to be healthy, vivacious and reliable. But does it reflect that state of health?

In a recent past, the American, British and Australian embassies raised the alarm concerning the decline of the English language in Mauritius. It was said that it was in bad shape and something had to be done to halt its downward trend. Today the situation has not improved and the risk of deterioration still lurks.

Why is the standard of English language on the wane? What are the factors behind that decline? To keep a language alive, lively and healthy, it has to be learnt, read and practised deeply and thoroughly. All the ingredients at the base of a language and helping to maintain a better grip on it should be alive and well because reading, understanding and writing depend on in-depth knowledge of a language.

<B>? The Latin revival In France</B>

An in-depth analysis of the state of English and the reasons behind its decline leads us to the following conclusion. If it is what it is today, many factors have contributed to downgrade its standard. In secondary schools, subjects like Latin, Greek, History, which helped students in language mastery and vocabulary build-up, have been scrapped to make room for modern subjects. The arguable point is that we have to keep abreast with our time. We do own it but we are paying the price. We cannot have our cake and eat it! Today in France, one student out of five is still studying Latin in Upper Secondary. Many are reverting to Greek and Latin with the blessing of their teachers. They are right and wise because most French words stem from Latin roots and knowledge of Latin can only give their language a welcome boost.

Nowadays, many colleges have struck off French and English literature from the curriculum because of acute student indifference to these subjects. The underlying reason is that literature means reading and most students are allergic to reading. Idem for English at Adavanced level for HSC. They run away from the syllabus of eight texts - the novel, poetry and drama - which involves intensive reading. This underlines why the number of candidates taking that subject keeps on dwindling.

Added to this, is the rarity of tutors for extra coaching in English at HSC. What is done in class is inadequate. To come up to scratch before the examination, students often have to supplement schoolwork with tuition. Tutors are a rare commodity because tuition in that subject is not remunerative. It is easier to muster a group of students for General Paper which is compulsory and not time-consuming in terms of preparation.

<B>? Sketchy knowledge of grammar</B>

The second factor that has contributed to the decline of English language is the poor and sketchy standard of grammar of learners. Today the proficiency of HSC students in English is still inadequate in spite of their SC performance. Even with a good credit in English, many HSC students are still bogged down grammatically in their expression.

What is the reason? It would be sheer intellectual dishonesty if we blame only the students. Today students are in fact fed on a poor diet of grammar. It is sad to note and unpedagogical on the part of language teachers to lay so little emphasis on that material aspect of the language, especially at secondary level, where students should be solidly grounded in grammar to enable them to express their thoughts. In most secondary schools, that important aspect is simply glossed over or left to students to learn by themselves. Here, the teacher may have a sketchy knowledge of grammar and so has little to transmit to learners or may deliberately play down the importance of grammar in language structure, which undoubtedly disqualifies him/her as a language teacher.

<B>? Lack of reading</B>

The third most important factor for the decline of English is lack of reading. We shall fail to bring the appropriate solution to the problem if we pretend not to understand the underlying reason of the poverty of our students at language level. It is a deplorable lack of reading on their part. They have become allergic to reading or slaves to distractions at the expense of reading. Without reading, there is no vocabulary and, without vocabulary, there is no expression and comprehension. Therefore, it is the language in question which carries the can.

Yet, another factor is the absence of quality learning. Today we are churning out quantity at the expense of quality. The students learn the strict minimum to get through the examination. Each year more than fifty percent of SC candidates fail to score a credit in English language. They only just scrape through with 7 or 8.

The ministry of Education seems to have become an accomplice in the process of quantity education. Today, with a mere pass in English and three credits, a student is eligible for a seat in Form Six. Formerly a credit in English at SC was compulsory. This helped to maintain a standard for HSC and compelled students to make additional efforts. But, with the new criteria, why worry! Even with a weak pass a student has his/her passport to Form Six. Consequently, the standard of English of Form Six students is stunning, not to say shocking.

Indirectly the ministry of Education, in collusion with the learners, has downgraded the standard of English language. And in the absence of quality, the standard slumps automatically while the knowledge of learners is only skin-deep.

These are the cardinal factors responsible for the present state of health of Shakespeare?s language in Mauritius. Naturally this situation demands remedial action to put English language back on the rails. We shall not raise an accusing finger against anyone. Instead we shall try to share the responsibilities.

<B>? The rescue</B>

Of course we shall not advocate reversion to Greek, Latin, History, etc. as the French are doing so as not to be branded as retrogressive and archaic, but we shall endeavour to share the onus among the ministry of Education, schools, parents and learners. These institutions can come to the rescue of English language.

To boost up reading, the ministry should make English literature compulsory up to Form V. This would help to upgrade the level of English and foster a taste for reading among students. Nowadays many students do literature up to Form III. They drop it in Form IV as they have three texts to prepare for Form V.

Secondly, the ministry should revert to the former criteria for eligibility for HSC, that is four credits including English. This would drive the students to work harder to secure their seat in Form Six and help maintain a certain standard of English language.

School is the place to foster English language and can play a material role in the promotion of learning. It can drive home to learners the importance of reading in their studies and help cultivate a culture of reading among our young.

School has an overriding duty to help learners express themselves correctly, especially at grammar level. Today this important aspect of language is hardly given attention. Grammar remains the basis of any language structure. It lies with the language teacher to do it. Grammar cannot be learnt, it has to be taught. We are not demanding a return to parsing of sentences on the blackboard, which might be exacting for an English teacher. We simply demand the teaching of elementary grammar and punctuation to help learners write error-free sentences.

Parents can certainly create reading awareness in their children. And it is their duty to initiate their kids into the world of books. Reading begins at home, right from the nursery. Experience has shown that the child without an early taste of reading will move but gropingly later in the world of books. We must not forget that, behind the successful reading of every child, stands a parent. This is how the parents can come to the rescue of English language.

Finally, the contribution of students themselves can be decisive in halting the downward trend of English language. Their contribution can be a lifebelt to keep Shakespeare?s language afloat. Its future rests with them. If they read English books today, they will be at ease in that language tomorrow. Through intelligent and purposeful reading, the school population can definitely infuse a new life into Shakespeare?s language.

I hope I have been able to diagnose the weaknesses of the English language and put forward a prescription to prevent it from taking a turn for the worse.