We now know that the current crisis really started when a pupil disputed his results in French at School Certificate Level. This led to the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate (MES) making enquiries over the results of pupils for Paper I of the French examination. Its initial enquiry showed that 234 pupils (70 colleges) were in fact penalised by an error. A quick exchange with Cambridge indicated that the error was with MES during the course of transmitting the data to Cambridge.

The director of MES has made it very clear that what happened was due to a technical problem and should not have happened especially at this age and time. According to the editors of some of our national papers, he was ?genuinely concerned? about this problem and accordingly, he immediately initiated an internal enquiry to find out what was the cause of it but he could not locate the origin of the mistake.

This is when the MES director wrote to the ministry of Education to ask for the setting up of a fact-finding committee but the ministry?s view was that the case had to be tackled at an internal level before being referred to the ministry. This is what the MES did with its board meeting. Two days after the recommendation was made, the issue was discussed by the cabinet that agreed to set up the fact-finding committee.

■ <B> The objectives of the fact-finding committee</B>

The committee will not only find out where the error came from but will also be responsible for taking remedial action and corrective measures to make sure that such incidents do not occur again.

This is all very well but there are other important and pressing issues which we, as members of the public and taxpayers who believe in value for money, ought to have answers. Dr Seeookumar Chumun, an experienced professional in examinations and assessment analyses currently based in London, wrote an excellent paper When the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate fails our children, which you published in your esteemed paper a few weeks ago and in which he raised a number of searching questions that need to be addressed from the examination perspectives. But, as members of the public who are contributing to the government coffers, we also need some straight answers.

■ <B> What the public should know</B>

Did the director inform the MES board about this technical problem? If he did, at what stage did he do it? If he did not, why did he not? Was he advised not to inform the board? Who set up a committee to investigate the cause of this technical problem? Was it the board? Was it the director?

Were the investigations carried by internal staff? Was a third party involved in the investigation or an internal sub-committee from the MES set up? Were those concerned with the technical problem suspended while the investigation was being conducted?

Who informed the minister? Was it the board? Was it the director? When was the minister informed? Was he informed of the gravity of the technical problem?

If the Minister was made aware of the problem, why was a communiqué not published to inform candidates that a technical problem has occurred and that the results of some candidates (234) would be affected?

What will be the role of the fact-finding committee if documents have already been tampered with or changed? Why did it take such a long time for MES to investigate the problem?

The technical problem was reported when parliament was in recess. Was it a coincidence or was it done deliberately to avoid parliamentary questions? Seems there are political implications also in this ?disturbing issue?

I do hope the fact-finding committee will not be another eyewash as it is always the case in such matters to shut up the members of the public but will find the root of the problem, provide guidance so that such mistakes do not recur but also pinpoint who the real culprit is.

I am just looking forward to reading the report of the fact-finding committee and finding out whose head will roll first and who gets the marching orders. From what I have seen and heard so far, it seems that there will be a large procession leaving the MES.

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