Having in mind the dark picture of Mauritian economy in the sugar and textile sectors, it seems that Mauritian economy would depend on the service sector, namely I.T. and tourism sectors.

There is need to have a look to find out how productive and efficient are we in different work sectors. In order to realise the weaknesses in our productivity and work culture, one has to be objective, devoid of any religious or political prejudices.

Festival oriented

Mauritius has different religions and cultures celebrating many festivals. In fact throughout the year a series of festivals no doubt brings cheer to us, but at the same time it hampers one's ?mood? to work.

Any foreigner would be amazed to see that in Mauritius X-Mas and New Year ?mood? starts as from 15th December and ends late in January. Such long extended ?holiday mood? is very uncommon in any other country.

Festivals of religious nature slow down the ?work mood?of the Mauritians belonging to that particular religious group often leading to absenteism, for many days prior and after the festival. One would not dare to be strict to exercise any work pressure in such situation. If somehow one would dare, one would be immediately labelled as communal, sometime even causing the relevant religious groups to react, often publicly.

It is to be noted that in spite of the fact that Mauritius is a secular state, the religions and state are almost inseparable. For example, since quite a few years the ministers including the Prime Minister are required officially to perform religious ceremony and to pray in temples for a good sugar harvest (which is not a religious festival of any nature) and prayers are officially aired by Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). How sincerely one can pray having the MBC cameras focused on all the time!

However, it is understood that a minister has to please socio-cultural groups who may invite the Minister to attend functions of religious nature.

It is to be noted that in Mauritius one seem to be constantly politically involved even in election free time. Two national holidays of political nature have been declared ? one is related to the arrival of Indian immigrants in Mauritius and other one is related to abolition of slavery.

One can note that these two national holidays have no active participation of all Mauritians. Both these days are simply celebrated by the politicians, while the rest would enjoy these holidays on beaches.

Moreover, I feel that our National Independence Day itself is the landmark in the history of Mauritius and is sufficient to integrate these two holidays so meaningful to the Indian Immigrants and the descendants of African slaves who form part of Mauritian Nation as a whole.

The Independence Day celebration should be given a wider national dimension to build up patriotism.

Punctuality

Importance of punctuality is ignored by almost everyone specially in the public sector. In most cases, work starts after 09 h 30 in the morning. After extended tea and lunch breaks are widely accepted. It is to be noted that in most of the ministries after 15 h 30, many officers have already closed their files and left their desks if not the offices.

When it comes to punctuality to attend the work place, often the transport system, high traffic Jam , specially to the capital city of Port Louis is pointed as a severe hindrance. Though it has been the priority of every government to solve this trafic problem, nothing concrete has been done till now to remedy the situation. It is still a debatable issue. A decision to solve such a problem cannot take so many years as yet a final decision has not been reached. Probably building up two fly overs - one to enter the centre of Port Louis and one to flow the traffic to the north, could improve the situation.

Decentralisation of offices of government and para statal bodies should also be implemented. At the same time the frequent late arrival in the morning could be compensated by staying late at work to replace the lost time in the morning. Such measures would work as incentives to the officers to arrive at work in the morning in time.

Regional posting also should be encouraged to avoid long distance travel to reach work destination. This could save cost of travelling refund as well.

Unproductive working hours

It is a common sight in the public sector mainly ministries where quite a few officers would leisurely stand around to chat with fellow colleagues or having long personal phone calls. I personally experienced such work attitudes in different work places, namely at Tourism Authority at Edith Cavell Street, Port Louis. Once I saw all the front desk officers chatting in the back offices with their colleagues leaving the members of the public unattended for a long time. Ironically often the officers give the impression that they are being disturbed when someone approached them for services. Often when the service is delayed, the junior officers would have ready answers that the concerned officer is not around or is attending a committee.

In social security offices one is required to wait for hours for an officer to attend. After long waiting, if one manages to be with the officer concerned, one may have to wait again as the officer attending may entertain long personal telephone call without being bothered that someone is waiting to receive his services for long. In fact taking above into consideration the actual working hours are reduced by many hours resulting in low productivity.

Review of leave structure

In many cases, there is abuse of sick leave and casual leave mainly in public sector. It may be considered to reduce number of unauthorised sick leaves. In fact number of sick leaves with medical certificate could be increased. The employees should be encouraged to plan vacation leave at the beginning of the year to enable better management plan to ensure smooth flow of work throughout the year.

In manufacturing industries, frequent absences by employees result in huge loss in production.

Red tapism in government services

There is high red tapism in the ministries and other public sectors. There is complete slackness in offering services to the public. When it comes for payment it is even worse.

It is to be noted that payment from government to the job contractors takes months with the excuse that file for payment is moving from one committee to another or that the required signatures for approval have yet to be obtained. Often concerned officers even refuse to entertain calls from the job contractors requesting payment. Such delay and negligence in payment may result in lack of cash in hand for the job ccontractor and mayprevent him to perform other jobs as the contractor already has used his own funds to deliver the job to the government.

The job contractor does not complain much as he is afraid that he may not secure any contract in future if he does so.

Any government job performed as required by the tender, should be paid immediately once the job is completed.

Education system to contribute positively

The debate goes on about having any competition in the schools ? primary or secondary. Competition is the key word for success and efficiency all over the world and such spirit should be cultivated from young age.

In other countries there is high competition to get admission to high prestigious educational institutions even at pre-primary level. Such competition encourages the child to give his or her best which automatically improves the child's performance. Having required to give one's best eventually build up a hard working nation. When there is no competition, there is no urge to achieve.

There should be special attention to the excluded. It is obvious that there is a wide gap between the elite and the excluded. There should be specially trained teachers to educate and understand the children from excluded groups. And also classes in the schools of such region should have less students so that the teachers can pay more attention to each student. The schools in such region should be inter linked with NGOs so that the child can be followed after school hours. Often children from such region face tremendous family problems like poverty, drug abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence, incest, etc. Government may consider offering financial assistance for education of children from poor economic background.

A productive nation is complete only when each and everyone in all corners of the country is empowered to produce efficiently. Therefore we cannot ignore any section of our society.

Induce patriotism

I strongly feel that the history of Mauritius should be a must in school curriculum. Singing of the national anthem in morning assembly should be introduced in all schools. Now singing of National Anthem is done only once a year on Independence Day. Such measures would create patriotism in the mind of the children from young age. Patriotism would eventually help to build up a nation inspired and dedicated to work hard to contribute to its progress.

Ranjita BUNWAREE