Vasant Bunwaree, minister of education, defends the policies of the present government and outlines the measures they are introducing to improve the chances of Mauritian children at the different stages of their schooling.

Dr. Bunwaree, tell us how you feel about the measures introduced in the budget for education?

I am very happy with the efforts made by the minister of finance to find ways and means to implement the reform programmes in the field of education in the most difficult conditions that we all know. Everyone knows that education is the essence of everything it takes people out of poverty and puts the country on the best path of development. The minister of finance has also understood the importance of this aspect.

Apart from the summer school, what innovative projects has the minister come up with in this budget?

There are many others like for example the pre-voc sector which is moving from three to four years.

What’s the point of adding one year?

At the end of three years, the student is 15 and after studying for three years, he has learned some prevocational skills to be able to start working but the age factor is a limiting one.

So you’re just keeping the kids in for one more year?

No. After three years, they do not have enough skills. The three years are supposed to help the pupils catch up on the academic side and learn some prevocational skills. But we are not satisfied with the results either on the academic or the vocational side. We organised a forum, brought all stakeholders together and some proposals were made by myself and others and we decided that one of the major factors was that they ought to have been exposed to the vocational side in the schools where vocational training is done. So, their studies will last for four years, and the first two years will be in the secondary schools whereas the following two years will be spent in the schools where there is vocational practice. They will get better results on both sides. Four years is a good time for this project to yield better results.

What about the other new measure in the budget: the summer school. The opposition is very skeptical because they say the kids will come and eat and go home and the programme is not adapted to the children.

I don’t understand why they say the programme is not adapted. These kids are already in school. Those kids on the weaker side are already having remedial programmes. The problem is that in some cases, it is not enough and therein lies the problem. The remedial measures they have access to are not yielding positive results.

What is the remedial programme?

We have introduced the diagnostic assessment, which officially takes place in Standard III. But all teachers, starting in Standard I, are supposed to categorise and assess the class. This is done with other stakeholders but all teachers are trained to assess the children. So we diagnose the weaknesses and remedial work is organised according to the needs of the children.

Is remedial work done as a formal class?

No. It is going to be the usual teacher of the class., helped by a support teacher. Because the main teacher cannot take care of everything. In some cases, he has to give so much attention to those who are not quick enough and those who could have done much better are bound to wait. This causes problems in classes where there are many different levels. There are also the special needs children.

The summer school will be an extension of this remedial work?

In a way, yes, because we have identified those schools where the pass rate does not go above 50%. These children will be able to attend in their usual school or any school in the region.

You mean they can choose a star school?

For example.

But where are you going to get the teachers?

This is what we are working on. We have to work with the unions. There is a pilot scheme that we are going to start.

Are the unions prepared for their teachers to work during the holidays?

Yes, but they want to discuss the conditions.

Going back to the enhancement programme, many do not regard it as a success story. You didn’t get the unions on board or the teachers.

The attendance in these programmes is between 72 and 75 % and at the start of the year it is around 85%. Even when exams are near, the curve never goes lower than 70%.

The kids are parked there 85% of the time but not much is getting done because the teachers have not bought in.

But the teachers are there! Who is doing the classes? We have 900 teachers working in the enhancement programme. We have about 600 or more resource persons offering specialist courses which the teachers cannot offer like music, slam, sports etc.

Those who have visited the schools during the enhancement programme report that the children have nothing to do, the teachers are not motivated. Your aim of getting them to learn more is not there yet.

Only in star schools the teachers are not motivated as they are eager to go and give private tuition. In that case, we bring in teachers from outside and we go through the teacher or head teacher to coordinate the work.

Has there been an assessment of this programme?

We started it last year on a pilot basis. Now it’s well entrenched in all our schools. We will be assessing it shortly. However, it is relevant to mention that there is an enhancement programme competition going on at the moment-do you know the percentage of schools participating? 100%! It is the only competition I know where all schools have participated. In fact, it’s the only programme I know where 100% of schools have participated. And on the 5th of December at the MGI there will be the finals. I am inviting you now. Last year those who got prizes for music were from ZEP schools. So those who say that the enhancement programme is not producing results are either not aware of the achievements or they do not want to see them.

Some teachers’ unions say that the enhancement programme is just private tuition glorified by the minister.

Not at all. Tell me where in Mauritius is private tuition helping in the holistic development of the child. I’ve had a survey done to find out what happened to our laureates over the last 25-30 years. That is 600 laureates. Three of them committed suicide before the age of 30! If they were the best, they should have stood up to life’s challenges.

Why don’t you scrap the laureate system?

We will gradually get there. For the time being, we are introducing for the fi rst time the notion of social status for scholarships. We have deserving cases who were very close to being laureates and would study further but for lack of means. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the MITD and the State Bank whereby even those who have gone through the pre-voc system and are doing well can join the mainstream. So we are opening up scholarship opportunities for them too.

One thing you have not done anything about is the CPE. Is that always going to be a stumbling block?

There are many things that have been done bearing in mind that the question of the CPE is the crux of the matter. If we do what many people would like us to do, that would create havoc in the country and I am well aware of that.

But there was no havoc when Steven Obeegadoo came up with regionalization.

Ask him why the Bureau de l’Education Catholique (BEC) schools did not join the system and what the results have been. He was not there to assess the results. It was something which could not continue. In fact, we did the best thing when we came.

You mean by going back to ran king?

Ranking is already abolished. It is not there. There is a grading system but not ranking.

Same difference. Our kids still go through insane competition to get to a good school…

But what differentiates us from them is that we take care of the elite too. They abolished the elite system. They closed the star schools to the students.

Only up to Form V... You could open them after Form III.

You are telling me what to do?

I’m only giving you options which you could consider if you want to finish with the inhumane system of selection at the age of 11.

I am saying that we have to go step by step. I have introduced assessment in Form III.

Is it going to phase out the CPE?

Now I can’t say that because I don’t want to hurt any sensitivities.

Who is going to be hurt by it?

We have to give time for the reform to work. The way I have chosen is leading towards the goal that we want to achieve.

What is that goal?

A child joins school in pre-primary and goes through primary. At the end of that there is an examination that tests the capacity of the child to continue into the secondary level. Then from there at least to the HSC. Throughout this process, there is a holistic formation of the personality of the child.

But there should be equal opportunities from the start. And you know that there are no equal opportunities. Those who are well connected go and grab the star schools, hog them up. We know that in many of those star schools more than 50% of the children are not even from that area.

For the last 2-3 years, the problem is less acute.

50% is not acute? According to the PTAs, it is 50%.

Not in all star schools. I agree there is a problem. There used to be an outcry each year. This year we have only received complaints from one school where parents from a catchment area have complained that their children have not got places in that school. This is where the problem is. If all the others don’t complain, it means that they are satisfied with the system.

But they may just keep silent knowing that this is how the system is…

Parents have to prove that they live in the area. Say they have two houses one of which is in the catchment area and they can prove it. Where is the problem? Each time I look at a complaint, I find that all the conditions have been met. When they are not we will reject the application.

There is a tug of war going on between you and the unions…

The unions?

At least one union…

Thank you for that. At least one union means that the other unions are silent or agreeable. I have no problem with the unions myself. That union has had the same position since the beginning. There have been other unions who had that position initially but changed with dialogue and give and take. If they want to go to court they can go to court.

This one union says that you are preventing them from doing what they want to do in their free time.

Preventing them from doing what they want to do? No, what we are telling them is that students of Standard IV are too young and should not be put under such pressure because there are already so many things being done at school. Now being educators, they should have understood that by themselves. We are not abolishing tuition for StandardsV andVI.

The point is how will you prevent them from giving private tuition if they want to?

I’ll put the question another way. What is the situation in Standards I, II and III? Private tuition is illegal. That is the law. All we are doing is extending that to Standard IV. The education act was amended in 1991 to abolish tuition in Standard III. Why did the unions keep quiet about that? Now Standard III happens to be attached to Standard IV. They cannot give tuition for Standard IV anywhere. It is illegal.

Let’s forget about the unions. What about parents. Aren’t you depriving them of choice?

What is the case for Standard III then? All I am doing is saying that children aged seven and eight should be in the same category. Some unions are fidgety because they fear that I might abolish private tuition completely.

Why don’t you?

We cannot do that now. The CPE is still there. Maybe that will come after a certain time but we are not talking about it now. We are thinking only of Standard IV. We have started the enhancement programme and the interactive project. This gives plenty of interesting, light work for children to succeed academically while participating in extra-curricular activities. We are going step by step. BEC schools also are agreeable because we are going step by step. We are moving in the right direction.

Now I want to talk about something that has not been talked about enough. The size of the classes: how can anybody teach 40 kids?

We have been looking at that. If you go into the statistics, you will find that we have been improving very gradually. The ratio is somewhat better. The question of putting two teachers in a class is going in that direction. We are trying to go faster but we need more means and need to discuss it with more stakeholders from the financial side. Splitting classes means more teachers, more class-rooms and so on. In the meantime, we need to give teachers support especially where they are facing problems. Measures we have introduced at the primary level include the enhancement programme, a review of the CPE, remedial work, the interactive project and continuous assessment. In secondary schools we have introduced assessment in Form III, sports as an examinable subject as well as new subjects such as sexual education. Never before have we seen so many innovative measures.

Touria PRAYAG