free education in mauritius essay

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Free Public Higher Education In Mauritius And The Way Forward

By Mohammad Issack Santally Associate Professor in Educational Technology University of Mauritius

On the occasion of the new year 2019, the Honorable Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth addressed the nation and announced free tertiary education at undergraduate level for all Mauritians studying in the public institutions of the country. While the population in general reacted favorably to this landmark announcement, there is also skepticism emitted by members of the civil society including political observers, academics and economists. Mauritius is well known for its successful education system. Free education in Mauritius was established by the Government in 1976 which many at the time criticized as an electoral measure while sympathizers of the then Government characterized the initiative as a visionary measure to shape the future of the country. 42 years later, indeed free education has proven to be the engine for the socio-economic progress of Mauritius – a country whose main asset is its manpower and intellectual capital.

Free Tertiary Education is not in itself a novel concept. Since 1977 the University of Mauritius was technically delivering undergraduate courses at no cost to those who obtained a seat. Students were not charged tuition fees but nevertheless, had to meet general fees which was around Rs 4000 in the late 1990s and that gradually increased to Rs 27200 in 2018. It is still very affordable from a comparative point of view, but for lower middle class and for those at the bottom of the ladder, access to higher studies might seem a distant dream for them despite other Government measures such as free transportation for students since 2005. The University of Mauritius, for a long period of time since its creation until the early 2000 was the only public university of the country and the preferred institution for the majority of Mauritians who did not have the means to study abroad. In 2018 the University had around 9700 registered students.

More than 50 years have elapsed since the establishment of the University of Mauritius and the higher education landscape in the country is now a completely different one with a number of private universities such as Amity University, Middlesex University and Curtin University operating branch campuses and four public Universities as well as the Polytechnics. Free tertiary education was up to now only dispensed at the University of Mauritius while the other public institutions charged tuition fees, until the announcement of the Prime Minister in his new year’s speech. Given that we are in an election year, history repeats itself with many of our compatriots again seeing this to be an electoral measure which will further increase public debt and the number of graduates who might well turn up to being unemployed, therefore leading to an increased level of frustration among the youth. These fears are not exaggerated and has been echoed in South Africa when Jacob Zuma announced in 2017, his plans for free higher education in Africa, to those families having income below a threshold level. But there is the other side of the coin, and if we look in some more detail, a sea of opportunities presents to us. Could this be the next revolutionary measure to finally help the country to achieve the much-awaited high income status? Could it finally contribute in the long term to close the inequality and the gap between the rich and the poor? Could this accelerate the development of the country into a knowledge society? Could this measure along with the key changes in the regulatory framework imposed by the Higher Education bill be a signal of a completely redefined and improved higher education system in Mauritius?

Access to higher education is key to the transformation and transition from information societies to knowledge-based economies. It is generally agreed that Education, ICTs, Science, Technology and Innovation are the key pillars for knowledge society building. The Mauritian government has been emphasizing on these key sectors consolidating the regulatory framework and policies with respect to innovation and ICTs through institutions like the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council under the Ministry of Technology, Communications and Innovation. The move to provide free tertiary education comes to complete the cycle of free education from primary and secondary through the extension of the government subsidies to the other public institutions. At the same time, by covering the polytechnics the Government demonstrates its commitment and high resolve to address the gaps and dire needs in the high-skill technical sector. Having such manpower who are industry 4.0 ready, will no doubt attract more investors and global businesses in the country and consolidate the national intellectual capital.

To the question of whether such a measure will help address inequalities between the rich and the poor, only time will tell us. Free education in Mauritius has lifted many families out of poverty, although the education system has often been criticized at the same time, as the root cause for high percentage of drop-outs at primary level as in many sub Saharan African countries. There has been many critics of the South African policy to provide free higher education including the labeling of the so-called inequality reduction as a myth. Indeed, many observers would have preferred an equity-based approach where targeted support could have been provided to mainly vulnerable and lower income groups. Given that access to public Universities will still be highly competitive and that places are limited, the main issue is that of the unfair advantage of the richer families on the poor at secondary level due to their financial means resulting in better achievement in examinations at the end of the secondary cycle.

Another important question that some experts and thought-leaders bring to the table time and again is whether there is a real need for four public universities in Mauritius. In a recent radio emission consisting of the key actors of the tertiary sector, the issue of duplication of programs and resources by the Universities was raised. For instance, the University of Technology, Mauritius created in the year 2000-2001 to offer specialized technology-related courses, had over the years created a school of Business and Management, School of Tourism and Sustainable Development and even a School of Health Sciences. It has about 3000 students. Similarly, for the Open University of Mauritius, many courses are offered on full-time mode targeting school leavers in areas where the University does not necessarily have in-house competencies or faculty members. The Open University has had a steady increase of its student population with around 4000 students in 2018. On the other hand, the latest addition to this league is the “Université des Mascareignes” established in 2012 through a merging of two “polytechnics” of the time, namely the “Institut Supérieur de Technologie” and the Swami Dayanand Institute of Management. The University has a Faculty of Management, a Faculty of Information Technology and a Faculty of Sustainable Development and Engineering with a student population of around 1000. Today there is competition between public universities while they should be working within a broader framework supporting the broader Government vision in a coherent manner. They need to adopt a “co-opetition” mindset over a competitive one. The term “co-opetition” is used here to define a scenario where they have to collaborate to achieve the shared government vision but engage in healthy competition to perform and continuously improve to achieve the set and agreed benchmarks and targets.

A key trend has been observed in Europe where a wave of university mergers has been experienced, as these institutions embark on increasing ranking, foster innovation and research to keep control on a bigger share of the higher education market. Researchers and observers argue that University mergers make competition tougher for smaller and less renowned institutions in the fight for sustainability and survival. As a result, smaller universities are struggling to survive. The Government in Mauritius has, on this note, been quite proactive to start a rethinking and a reform of the higher education sector, starting with the introduction of the Higher Education Act as an overarching framework to regulate the sector in its entirety. The idea of a harmonization and streamlining of the roles of the public universities as well as pooling of resources has been on the agenda for quite some time. While the intention is there, in practice it becomes a bit more complex. For e.g. which University will be the reference institution for law and management or for ICTs when all of the four universities are running these courses. Since the Universities are vested by virtue of the acts and statutes with awarding powers it will be difficult and at the same time, not correctly perceived if the higher education funding agency were to dictate which courses have to be run by which university. The idea of harmonization, streamlining and pooling of resources becomes much more relevant with free education. A few questions though oblige. If all students in public universities were to get free education, how does one go about applying and getting a seat in one university or on his or her programme of choice? What are the provisions to ensure that the students get same quality of education, facilities, services and learning experience? What happens if a student applies at two different universities on a full-time course and a part-time course respectively and gets a seat on both programs? How do Universities talk to each other within such a setting? Is it time for a UCAS-like system of central application as in the UK and then allocation of seats to each institution/programme on a merit-based or other pre-defined criteria?

It is clear that the Higher Education Sector in Mauritius is in a transformative and transitional period of its existence. The foundations are being laid through the provision and harmonization of free public higher education provision and the implementation of a new legislative framework. Reflecting further, it makes sense then to envisage in the ideal situation a merger of the four public universities into The National University of Mauritius, comprising of a number of autonomous affiliated institutes of Engineering, ICTs, Law and Management, Education & Teacher Training, Open and Lifelong Learning, Social Sciences, Agricultural and Ocean Sciences and finally Medicine and Health Sciences. Ultimately the awarding body is from The National University of Mauritius. The Government by so doing will further achieve financial efficiency, and the much-desired harmonization, streamlining, pooling of resources, and internationalization of the Mauritian Higher Education system, supported a robust regulatory framework and quality assurance system to enhance the position of Mauritius as a knowledge hub for Africa.

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Schooling Education in Mauritius

Negotiated Connectivities

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First Online: 24 October 2019
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Michael Anthony Samuel 3 &
Hyleen Mariaye 4

Part of the book series: Global Education Systems ((GES))

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Mauritius bears the hallmarks of being complementarily a country of eastern and western worldviews, ethnically, linguistically, and religiously borrowing traditions from its diverse heritages. It is a country of both Asian and African cultural, political, historical, and institutional connections. Developments in its educational landscape have thus been shaped by and resonate with historical and current experiences within the Southeast Asian region. Drawing on available (2018) official reports and policies of the Mauritian Government, especially the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research (MoEHRTESR), and the work of current doctoral students engaged with developing scoping reviews of the forces shaping Mauritius’ schooling system, this chapter showcases how this small island developing state (SIDS) has strategically renegotiated its connectivities with its local, regional, and global partners throughout its formative history. It argues that while policy construction initially involved alignment with advice and directives from multinational organizations that exported their preferred conceptions of education and development to the island, over time, this agenda was challenged to become more inclusive of indigenously connected local resources. We analyze Mauritius’ polyglot schooling typologies and structures, shifting curriculum, language educational policy options, and ICT choices as a strategic educational lever for development and offer a historical theoretical lens for the construction of Mauritius as a SIDS. Furthermore, we question whether, through their partners, national state authorities can activate the required epistemic and practical resources to enact policy change and implementation that is the product of creativity, innovation, and research informed critique.

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Samuel, M.A., Mariaye, H. (2020). Schooling Education in Mauritius. In: Sarangapani, P., Pappu, R. (eds) Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia. Global Education Systems. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3309-5_54-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3309-5_54-1

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Published : 24 October 2019

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Education in Mauritius

Education plays an important role in the development of the country. The education system in Mauritius is divided into pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary education. Mainly based on the British system; the education in Mauritius has been widely influenced by the British colonization. Long after the independence of the country in 1968, the Mauritian government has striven hard to improve education among the people to better facilitate the country’s literacy. Budgets in the education sector have been allotted to manage, facilitate, and provide free, universal, compulsory primary education, free textbooks, free secondary education, and a fairly wide range of higher degree education in University of Mauritius. Competitive human and materials facilities have also been developed and improved.

Pre primary education starts at the age of three; with most of the schools privately owned. Furthermore, at six, primary education in Mauritius starts. Completing the primary education requires each to pass the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) national examination. To further get the secondary and prevocational education, one must have taken the CPE exam first. Most of the colleges whether they are State owned or privately owned are English-style grammar schools. College is entered through Form I and progresses to Form IV, requiring seven years of schooling. After taking Form IV, the students need to take up the O-level and A-level examinations which are carried out by the University of Cambridge.

Tertiary education in Mauritius offers diverse disciplines and levels composed of private, regional, and overseas institutions for a wide range of courses and programmes. Public tertiary institutions of Mauritius include The University of Mauritius, The Mahatma Gandhi Institute, and Open University of Mauritius.

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Exploring the Debate of Free Public Tertiary Education in Mauritius

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Education In Mauritius: Schools, Culture, And Living

What does it mean to receive an education in a tropical paradise? Mauritius, an island nation located in the Indian Ocean, offers a unique learning experience for students. The country’s education system follows the Anglo-Saxon model and includes primary, secondary, and higher education.

While education is free and compulsory until the age of 16, expat families often opt for international or French and Anglo-Saxon schools instead of local schools.

In this article, we will delve into the education system in Mauritius, exploring the different schooling options available to students. We will also take a closer look at the culture and lifestyle of expat families in Mauritius, examining what it is like to live and learn in this beautiful country.

Whether you are considering a move to Mauritius or just curious about its education system, this article will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of education in Mauritius and what it has to offer.

Key Takeaways

Expats prefer international or French and Anglo-Saxon schools to local schools in Mauritius.
Mauritius has a structured national education system with free and compulsory schooling until age 16, divided into primary, secondary, and higher education.
Understanding Mauritian gastronomy is significant in comprehending the culture.
Private nurseries, kindergartens, and daycare centers are available in Mauritius, along with options for higher education and special needs schools.

Schooling in Mauritius

The Mauritian education system follows the Anglo-Saxon model and is divided into primary, secondary, and higher education. Schooling is compulsory and free until age 16, and children between the ages of 3-5 must attend preschool before moving on to primary school. Wearing uniforms is mandatory in government schools.

The High School Certificate (HSC) is awarded by the University of Cambridge, and the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) was replaced by the Primary School Achievement Certificate (PSAC) in 2015.

Expats tend to prefer international or French and Anglo-Saxon schools over local ones. Mauritius has many private schools that follow the national curriculum, and most expat children attend international schools that apply similar educational standards worldwide. International schools are located in the Northern, Central, and West regions of Mauritius.

Private nurseries, kindergartens, and daycare centers are also available, giving parents various options for their children’s education.

Living as an Expat

Expatriates in Mauritius can benefit from various services to ease their transition into a new country. These services include assistance with international moves, health insurance, and bank accounts. Expats can also find job opportunities in Mauritius, with the government encouraging foreign investment and offering various incentives to attract foreign businesses.

Moving to a new country can be overwhelming, but cultural immersion is an important aspect of adapting to a new environment. Mauritius has a rich and diverse culture, with a blend of African, Indian, European, and Chinese influences. Expats can explore the island’s history, traditions, and cuisine to better understand the local way of life.

Additionally, expats can join local clubs and groups to meet new people and learn more about the Mauritian culture.

Specific School Information

Private nurseries, kindergartens, and daycare centers are readily available in Mauritius for families with young children. Some specific options include Stepping Stones Pre-Primary Nursery located in Moka and L’ile aux Enfants – (LAE Montessori) Preschool in Cascavelle. These facilities provide a safe and stimulating environment for children to learn and grow, with trained professionals who are dedicated to the development of their students. Parents can choose from a variety of programs and schedules to fit their needs, and many of these facilities offer extracurricular activities such as music, art, and sports.

For families seeking primary and secondary education, there are several options for private English-speaking schools in Mauritius. Dukesbridge school is a middle-range private school that offers a British curriculum for students aged 5-18. Additionally, government schools and Montessori schools are available for families who prefer those options. For expat families seeking German-speaking schools, a teacher recommendation may be necessary to find the best fit for their child. Homeschooling and special needs schools are also available in Mauritius, providing flexibility and individualized attention for students with unique learning needs. Overall, there are a variety of educational options available for families in Mauritius to ensure the best possible education for their children.

Type of School	Location	Curriculum	Age Range	Extracurricular Activities
Stepping Stones Pre-Primary Nursery	Moka	—	3-5	Music, art, and sports
L’ile aux Enfants – (LAE Montessori) Preschool	Cascavelle	Montessori	3-6	Music, art, and sports
Dukesbridge school	—	British	5-18	Music, drama, and sports
Government schools	—	Mauritian	5-18	—
Montessori schools	—	Montessori	3-12	Music, art, and sports

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average class size in mauritian schools.

The average class size in Mauritian schools varies depending on the type of school and level of education. In general, government schools tend to have larger class sizes than private schools.

The teacher-student ratio also differs between schools, with some schools having one teacher for every 20 students while others have one teacher for every 40 students.

The classroom dynamics in Mauritian schools are diverse, with some teachers employing traditional teaching methods while others use more modern approaches.

Despite the varying class sizes and teaching methods, Mauritian schools prioritize providing quality education to their students.

Are there any restrictions on homeschooling in Mauritius?

In Mauritius, homeschooling is legal, but there are certain legal requirements that need to be followed. According to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, homeschooling parents must register their children with the ministry and provide a curriculum that is in line with the national curriculum.

Homeschooling resources are available online, including sample curriculums, assessments, and support groups. In addition, parents must ensure that their children receive an education that is equivalent to that provided in schools, and they may be subject to periodic evaluations by the ministry to ensure that this requirement is being met.

Overall, while homeschooling is an option in Mauritius, parents must adhere to the legal requirements to ensure that their children receive a quality education.

What extracurricular activities are available in Mauritian schools?

Mauritian schools offer a variety of extracurricular activities, including sports programs and art clubs. These activities are designed to provide students with a well-rounded education and to help them develop skills and interests outside of the classroom.

Many schools offer sports teams for popular sports such as soccer, rugby, and basketball, and there are also opportunities for students to participate in individual sports like swimming and tennis.

Art clubs typically focus on activities such as painting, drawing, and sculpture, and may also offer instruction in music and performing arts.

Overall, the extracurricular activities available in Mauritian schools are designed to promote student engagement and provide opportunities for personal growth and development.

How does the education system in Mauritius compare to other countries?

Comparing the education system in Mauritius to that of other countries reveals certain curriculum differences and teacher training practices.

For instance, while the Mauritian system is based on the Anglo-Saxon model and follows the national curriculum, schools in other countries may have a different approach.

Additionally, teacher training in Mauritius is typically focused on imparting subject knowledge, whereas in other countries, it may incorporate pedagogical techniques aimed at fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

However, it is important to note that every country has its unique education system, and comparisons should be made with caution.

Are there any scholarships or financial aid available for expat students in Mauritius?

Financial assistance in the form of scholarships and grants may be available for expat students in Mauritius, although eligibility criteria and availability may vary depending on the institution and program.

It is recommended that interested individuals research and inquire directly with their desired schools or organizations to determine if any financial aid options are available.

Additionally, expats may consider seeking assistance through international scholarship programs or their home country’s education department.

In conclusion, the education system in Mauritius offers a comprehensive structure that is based on the Anglo-Saxon model and consists of primary, secondary, and higher education. While expat families tend to prefer international or French and Anglo-Saxon schools to local schools, the government ensures that schooling is free and compulsory until the age of 16.

Additionally, living as an expat in Mauritius offers a unique cultural experience, with a blend of African, Indian, Chinese, and European influences. One example of this cultural blend can be seen in the street food markets, where vendors sell a variety of dishes such as dholl puri, samosas, and Chinese noodles. These markets are a popular destination for locals and expats alike, offering a taste of the vibrant and diverse culture in Mauritius.

Overall, education and living in Mauritius offer a unique experience for expat families who are looking for a blend of cultural immersion and quality education.

Ashesh - Blogger

Graduated from University of Mauritius, Young IT Specialist Award winner from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Part-Time Lecturer Open University of Mauritius. Loves to create websites and perform digital marketing. Blogging since 2007...

Free education: Cost Sharing

The salvation of free education and its public schools lies in giving more fiscal space to government to allow it to invest heavily in overhauling the education system.

Free education has served us well over the past five decades especially in terms of access, in improving our mean years of schooling, in enrolment in higher education and female education and in reducing socioeconomic inequality. But the education system has begun to falter for quite some time now in terms of overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Nothing happens overnight. It is difficult to uncover, measure and therefore analyze the total impact of the country’s educational policies – overly free education system, school discipline, messages of overindulgence, parents’ responsibility, values system, teacher training, teachers’ salary, private tuition, teacher selection process, etc – that have led to such a state of affairs. But everyone agrees that we cannot continue with such an outdated system which has failed to bring out our students’ talent and potential and inspire them to life-long learning while meeting the country’s future needs.

Today a variety of trends are utterly reshaping the education landscape – 24/7 access to online teaching, learning and discovery environments, long-life learning. The budget for education will be rising in the near future to meet these challenges of the worldwide revolution in the education system oriented towards new teaching methodology and technology.

There will increasing risks that the overly free education – free transport, free exams, free meals, free stationeries – may end up being very costly. In the sense that Government will not be able to fully support the public schools; quality will continue to plunge and the state system will become dysfunctional, and most of the products of these state schools will be misfits when they get out into the real world.

Government schools will become reserves for children at the very bottom of our social ladder while private schools will thrive providing a quality education for the elite. (This is what we seem to be experiencing in the health sector – a wanton deteriorating public health but improving private health. Our free public schools will only be trapping generations of students at the margins of society and locking them out of the economy.

This is what our bright youthful Omnicane award winners have tried to warn us about, oblivious of the reactions of our politicians, the hardcore supporters of the Welfare State and some of our obstinate leftists. Underlying such an education system subsisting in parallel with the insidious private tuition is the fact that Government has been subsiding the elite. With the ongoing cosmetic reform of the system, it is undeniable that the latter feels that it is no longer serving its purpose and cares the least about its gradual decay. They are encouraging more and more private schools to pop up across the nation, giving well-to-do families an alternative to public education.

It will no longer be feasible to continue providing wholly free education from general taxation. The salvation of free education and its public schools lies in giving more fiscal space to Government to allow it to invest heavily in overhauling the education system to meet the above-mentioned challenges. This will require that policymakers, business leaders and the universities to: a) rededicate themselves to creating a more flexible system, including improving efficiency and effectiveness, b) do away with some of the freebies of our education system, and c) introduce measures aimed at cost sharing with parents and students (exempting those on the social register) so that education funding can be supplemented by sources other than government.

The Metro Express: The accompanying measures

What are the accompanying measures that will be needed to prevent the Metro Express from becoming a white elephant given that the road infrastructure is also being improved and the number of cars on our roads continues to increase relentlessly? The just released indicators on Road Transport show a net addition of 11,826 vehicles to the existing fleet for the first semester of 2018. At end of June 2018, there were 543,623 vehicles registered at the National Transport Authority (NTA).

The EDB should come forward with the accompanying measures that will follow the coming into operation of the Metro Express. The population should be prepared for that – a different mindset for both the commuter and car users. Building the Metro is one thing and ensuring that it is operating successfully and efficiently is another.

We hope we will not have to go through the same mess as the measures and penalties to reduce road accidents – going backward and forward. We hope we will have enough time to analyse and discuss these measures.

Our fears are that these measures, which are likely to include many controversial and hard-hitting ones on private car users, will only be announced after the next general elections. They will buy in the electorate by tricking them into taking the sweeter pill first… Short term gains for long term pains!

Rs15 to Rs19 billion for the Surveillance State

Most of the time some of the crimes are displaced to nearby areas within or close to the city centre where there is no camera coverage but where there are similar opportunities to commit crimes. Indeed research carried out shows that despite the popularity of closed circuit television (CCTV)/video surveillance, evidence of its crime prevention capabilities is inconclusive. Research has largely reported its effect as “mixed”. At such cost, to go for a system that is not that foolproof is a folly.

The European Forum for Urban Security, “Charter for a Democratic Use of Video-Surveillance,” provides a useful overview of the issues at stake as well as a set of principles and tools to ensure that citizens’ rights are respected with CCTV/video surveillance systems. These include :

Necessity : The use of camera systems must be justified empirically, ideally by an independent authority. Objectives and intended outcomes must be defined.

Proportionality : CCTV equipment must be appropriate for the problem it is intended to address. Technology should “respond to the established objectives, without going further. Data should be protected and the length of time it is retained be clearly defined.

Transparency : Citizens should know what the objectives of a CCTV/video system are, what its installation and operational costs are, the areas being surveyed, and what the results are. Reports should occur regularly so citizens can make informed decisions.

Accountability : Those in charge of public CCTV systems should be clearly identified and accountable to the public, whether the systems are run by the government or private firms.

Independent oversight : An external body should be charged with ensuring that systems respect the public’s rights and are achieving their stated objectives. Ideally citizens would have a voice in the oversight process.

Indeed, this Charter drives us to challenge the whole approach to this Safe City project. What will be the role of Mauritius Telecom and the Chinese Company Huawei? The Agreement should be made public.

The Census Issue: “L’hypocrisie politicienne”

In our dear little “C’est un plaisir” country, when some societal issues appear occasionally, as they do in most societies, we tend to sweep them under the carpet.

After the Grand Bassin gandia issue, the LGBT march, the child marriage issue, religious conversions and now the census issue: “L’hypocrisie politicienne”, there is a common pattern. The elite, the thinkers, leaders of communities, social activists, NGOs who are always on the forefront on non-controversial issues, look the other way, burying their heads in the sands allowing the radicals, the delinquents, the hooligans, the conservatives, the religious bigots, the fanatics to take over the main stage.

When some avant-gardistes delve deeper, they are castigated, threatened, boycotted… and the views of the conformist majority prevail and we go back to our comfort zone, doing business as usual. They get away with it and slowly and gradually but surely we are allowing the parasites to gnaw at our foundation. We are not building out houses on granites as Wilhelm Reich used to say — If, little man among millions, you were to shoulder the barest fraction of your responsibility, the world would be a very different place. Your great friends wouldn’t perish, struck down by your smallness.”

Are we not civilised enough to even talk to each other on these… “Man’s right to know, to learn, to inquire, to make bona fide errors, to investigate human emotions must, by all means, be safe, if the word “freedom” should ever be more than an empty political slogan.”

Or is it easier to ignore it, avoid the tensions these create in our minds and in society and across communities? Or is it much larger than that? There is the fear of reprobation from our community, the social pressure to conform… they have imposed their will, their linear thinking, and imprison us in their archaic conformism and attitudes. Are we afraid of being free, of being left alone on the side lines, being marginalised…?

Hypocrisy is not our nature . Like Francis Fukuyma ( Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment ), Kwame Anthony Appiah ( The Lies that bind. Rethinking Identity ) and Michael Ignatieff ( The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World ), we are prepared to engage a debate and a dialogue that looks beyond group identity and failed institutions and meritocracy.

We believe that “identity politics is a symptom of democratic decay and a diversion from the real task. That is to create coalitions that can move past our differences, strengthen our shared public goods, rebuild the ladder of economic opportunity, and recognise once again the human identity we have in common.”

* Published in print edition on 13 September 2018

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Barriers and Enablers to Inclusive Education in Mauritius: Perceptions of Secondary School Educational Practitioners

Nazia Abdoula-Dhuny Open University of Mauritius

Advocated as an educational philosophy to tackle exclusion, inclusive education (IE) is now a worldwide trend. Despite the well-acknowledged benefits of inclusion, educational practitioners have several difficulties which act as significant setbacks in operationalising inclusion in practice. Given its novelty in Mauritius, IE implementation is not fully understood. The purpose of the study was to explore the perceptions of secondary school educational practitioners on certain aspects of inclusive education, namely the academic profile of students with special education needs encountered by secondary school educators and rectors, the difficulties faced when dealing with them, and the barriers and enablers to inclusive education. It involved a quantitative descriptive research design. Data were collected from 588 secondary educators and 42 rectors using a specifically designed questionnaire. Following the analysis of data, respondents confirmed the presence of children with special education needs in their classrooms. While respondents indicated that the majority of students with special education needs had an academic profile of the same level of age-matched peers, they reported difficulties encountered with these learners in terms of deficits in attention, participation and behavioural problems. The main barriers identified were the lack of training in special education and the lack of proper infrastructure. Findings revealed training and knowledge in special education, the availability of proper infrastructure, support in terms of teaching aids, specialised equipment and teaching assistants as the main enabling factors. Training is therefore recommended to build competency of educators and rectors in inclusive practices. Appropriate infrastructure and support in terms of educational materials and support personnel should also be provided.

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Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Free Education

Students are often asked to write an essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Free Education in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Free Education

Introduction.

Free education means offering learning without charging students. It has both advantages and disadvantages.

Free education can help everyone, especially those who can’t afford fees. It promotes equality, as all students get the same opportunities.

Disadvantages

However, free education can strain government budgets. Also, it may lead to overcrowded classrooms and less attention to each student.

While free education has clear benefits like promoting equality, it also has drawbacks like potential overcrowding. It’s important to balance these factors.

250 Words Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Free Education

Advantages of free education.

One significant advantage of free education is the promotion of equality. It enables students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to have equal access to learning opportunities, thereby reducing income-based educational disparities. Additionally, free education can lead to a more educated populace, which is crucial for societal growth and development. As more people gain access to quality education, the pool of skilled labor increases, fostering economic growth.

Disadvantages of Free Education

On the downside, free education can strain public resources. Governments must find ways to fund education, which may lead to increased taxes or cuts in other areas. Furthermore, the surge in student numbers can lead to overcrowded classrooms and reduced quality of education. Lastly, free education might devalue degrees. If everyone has a degree, it becomes less of a differentiating factor in the job market, potentially leading to credential inflation.

In conclusion, free education carries both significant benefits and challenges. While it promotes equality and economic growth, it also poses financial challenges and potential devaluation of degrees. Therefore, it’s crucial to strike a balance, perhaps through a mixed system that combines free and fee-paying education, to ensure sustainable and equitable access to education.

500 Words Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Free Education

Education is a fundamental human right and an essential tool for societal development. The concept of free education has been embraced by some countries, while others still debate its feasibility. This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of free education.

Free education has several advantages. Primarily, it promotes equal opportunity. By eliminating financial barriers, all individuals, regardless of their socioeconomic status, have the same chance to acquire knowledge and skills. This fosters social mobility, as education is a key determinant of one’s future prospects.

Lastly, free education can help reduce social issues such as crime and poverty. Studies have shown a correlation between education and reduced crime rates. Similarly, education equips individuals with the skills needed to secure well-paying jobs, thereby reducing poverty levels.

Despite these advantages, free education also has its drawbacks. The most significant is the financial burden it places on the government. Free education requires substantial funding to maintain high-quality standards, and this could lead to increased taxes or cuts in other public services.

Another disadvantage is the possibility of diminished value perception. When education is free, students may not value it as much, leading to a lack of motivation or commitment. This could result in lower academic performance and higher dropout rates.

In conclusion, free education has both advantages and disadvantages. While it promotes equal opportunity, enhances workforce education, and helps reduce social issues, it also places a financial burden on the government, may lead to resource strain, and potentially diminishes value perception. Therefore, the implementation of free education requires careful planning and consideration to maximize its benefits while mitigating the drawbacks. The debate on free education is complex and multifaceted, reflecting the significant role education plays in society.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Blog The Education Hub

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/08/20/gcse-results-day-2024-number-grading-system/

GCSE results day 2024: Everything you need to know including the number grading system

Thousands of students across the country will soon be finding out their GCSE results and thinking about the next steps in their education.

Here we explain everything you need to know about the big day, from when results day is, to the current 9-1 grading scale, to what your options are if your results aren’t what you’re expecting.

When is GCSE results day 2024?

GCSE results day will be taking place on Thursday the 22 August.

The results will be made available to schools on Wednesday and available to pick up from your school by 8am on Thursday morning.

Schools will issue their own instructions on how and when to collect your results.

When did we change to a number grading scale?

The shift to the numerical grading system was introduced in England in 2017 firstly in English language, English literature, and maths.

By 2020 all subjects were shifted to number grades. This means anyone with GCSE results from 2017-2020 will have a combination of both letters and numbers.

The numerical grading system was to signal more challenging GCSEs and to better differentiate between students’ abilities - particularly at higher grades between the A *-C grades. There only used to be 4 grades between A* and C, now with the numerical grading scale there are 6.

What do the number grades mean?

The grades are ranked from 1, the lowest, to 9, the highest.

The grades don’t exactly translate, but the two grading scales meet at three points as illustrated below.

The bottom of grade 7 is aligned with the bottom of grade A, while the bottom of grade 4 is aligned to the bottom of grade C.

Meanwhile, the bottom of grade 1 is aligned to the bottom of grade G.

What to do if your results weren’t what you were expecting?

If your results weren’t what you were expecting, firstly don’t panic. You have options.

First things first, speak to your school or college – they could be flexible on entry requirements if you’ve just missed your grades.

They’ll also be able to give you the best tailored advice on whether re-sitting while studying for your next qualifications is a possibility.

If you’re really unhappy with your results you can enter to resit all GCSE subjects in summer 2025. You can also take autumn exams in GCSE English language and maths.

Speak to your sixth form or college to decide when it’s the best time for you to resit a GCSE exam.

Look for other courses with different grade requirements

Entry requirements vary depending on the college and course. Ask your school for advice, and call your college or another one in your area to see if there’s a space on a course you’re interested in.

Consider an apprenticeship

Apprenticeships combine a practical training job with study too. They’re open to you if you’re 16 or over, living in England, and not in full time education.

As an apprentice you’ll be a paid employee, have the opportunity to work alongside experienced staff, gain job-specific skills, and get time set aside for training and study related to your role.

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‘In Pursuit’: The Power of Epistemic Humility

Elizabeth H. Bradley and Jonathon S. Kahn ask if the breakdown of dialogue on campus is in part a reflection of how we teach.

By Elizabeth H. Bradley and Jonathon S. Kahn

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A drawing of seven raised hands with different skin colors; above their raised hands are seven speech bubbles, each with a question mark. The image is intended to convey the concept of a group of students raising their hands to ask questions.

Olena Zagoruyko/iStock/Getty Images Plus

A new academic year is set to begin after what was one of the most tumultuous years on college campuses since the Vietnam War–era protests. Depending on one’s perspective, higher education institutions have emerged as sites of protest against a disturbing foreign conflict rife with humanitarian crises; they have been dangerous hotbeds of radicalism threatening Jewish community members; or they have been testing grounds for the limits of free speech in the 21st century. From our vantage point, as the president and a faculty member at a small liberal arts college, all can be true, and it is precisely the legitimacy of multiple perspectives that has made life on campus this past year so difficult and demanding.

We can’t sugarcoat it, because we live it: The breakdown of dialogue on college campuses is real. The irony that liberal arts institutions of higher education are struggling to navigate diverse perspectives is not lost on us. Institutions of higher education insist that navigating differences is core to their work. Mission statements aplenty claim that being able to engage multiple viewpoints represents a central educational value. That so many colleges and universities are grappling with their most basic and central educational commitments should give pause.

It pushes us to ask a question that has largely gone unasked: Is a breakdown in how we now educate partially to blame for the current breakdown on campuses? In other words, is it us?

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Current tumult has obscured a crucial organizing tenet of higher education: to be always in pursuit of greater understanding. It is cliché, perhaps. But in these toughest of days, we found ourselves thinking about the deeper implications of being “in pursuit.” To pursue understanding is to conceive of knowledge building as requiring continuous seeking, revising and questioning. Such an approach to learning is desperately needed today not only because it fosters curiosity (which it does) but also because it staves off absolutist impulses to deride and silence others’ views, impulses we have seen firsthand.

Consider, for example, a tremendously difficult class one of us co-taught on the history of blackface performances and minstrel practices during the early part of the 20th century at what was then our all-women’s college. Since the course dealt with deeply racist practices, the understandable desire to singularly condemn the college’s history was palpable. Indeed, at the start of the class, many students, most of whom were white, described their motivations for taking the class primarily in terms of exposing the college’s racist past. “Critique” was the language they spoke, which they took to mean uncovering the college’s blameworthy history, denouncing the practices they were studying and confirming their own absolutes about race and hypocrisy at elite institutions more broadly. They described their attachment to the institution as tenuous. It was clear that, to their thinking, college was a place to have an educational experience and receive a degree, while the notion that they might develop a sense of fidelity or obligation to a college with a racist history, or develop a complex understanding of a condemned practice, was an anathema.

But something different happened. What unfolded over the course of the semester was an exercise in the pursuit of understanding. If the students began the course convinced about the racist motivations of their counterparts in the early 20th century, their research complicated those assumptions. They learned that all-women performances of blackface at that time were quite rare, and so what was happening on campus then represented something distinct. Their inquiries led them to consider the transition from 19th-century Victorian models of white womanhood to newer formulations in the early 20th century that came to be known as first-wave feminism. They began to ask: Is it possible that these blackface performances contributed to this transition? Did commitments to feminism and gender equality at that time actually reinforce persistent racial inequalities? How is it possible that these young women could have genuinely believed they were pursuing a form of self-liberation through racist tropes and performances?

Their answers to these questions went in many directions, and none of them excused the racism of this time. But instead of vilifying these earlier students and refusing to understand perspectives different from their own, our students began to see their predecessors as flawed and complicated with multiple motivations; these included a daring to do what men were doing in an attempt to articulate their own desires for equality. Again, our students did not excuse these practices or the women who participated in them as much as they began to understand their behavior as sitting in a complex network of forces, a condition that may very well mark the human experience. Crucially in the final sets of class meetings, the students began to wonder about themselves as similarly flawed and circumscribed by social forces of which they may not be fully aware.

The effects of this insight on the students’ relationships to the institution were significant. They began to see the college in the early 20th century as a context in which young white women, many of whom were from the middle classes, were struggling to craft a self during a tumultuous time of changing norms. The parallels became obvious. The students began to understand that they too sit in cross-pressured contexts in which they are haltingly and fallibly trying to make sense of themselves in their own turbulent times.

We do not want to overstate the effects of the class; however, the experience gave students a profound encounter with the power of epistemic humility, an acknowledgement of the necessity of curiosity, nuance, uncertainty and multiple perspectives needed for building knowledge. That encounter expanded the students’ capacity to understand—and even have empathy for—a broader range of experiences and perspectives, a necessary condition for engaging the pluralism possible on a college campus.

The question facing higher education today is how to build these types of experiences. The good news is that this doesn’t require fancy lab equipment or other expensive infrastructure. It does require three basic elements—instructors committed to giving their students an experience of novel inquiry, primary sources and time. When faculty make clear that the entire purpose of the class is for students to figure out what they think, students begin to understand the power of question asking. From there, any question—from the teacher, their classmates and themselves—feels exploratory and enticing.

Primary sources—original documents or images—are vital because they cry out for multiple interpretations, functioning like a ball-and-socket joint around which students’ thoughts, ideas and questions can begin to turn. Critically, all this takes time. Students need time to trust that the instructor genuinely wants them to go on a journey of their own. And the meanings of images and texts surface slowly, yielding only to the student’s patience and persistence to ask questions from multiple perspectives.

At the end of the 19th century, William James insisted that education required “the habit of always seeing an alternative, of not taking the usual for granted, of making conventionalities fluid again, of imagining foreign states of mind.” In the 20th century, W. E. B. Du Bois worried about the dangers of education reinforcing “the overwhelming sense of the I, and the consequent forgetting of the Thou.” And in the 21st century, the feminist literary theorist Rita Felski asks , “Why—even as we extol multiplicity, difference, hybridity … are we so hyperarticulate about our adversaries?”

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All three circle around the same idea. To be always in the pursuit of greater understanding is to confess that we have more to learn. It is to conceive of education as a process of relationship building between our own perspectives and experiences not our own. Without this, our relationships with those with different experiences risk becoming brittle and unsustainable. Unable to contain a community’s multitudes, we resort to excising—canceling—those whom we cannot countenance. The pursuit of understanding requires the opposite.

Today’s campuses need to develop and be given greater latitude for this version of learning. We know from experience that this process is messy, and we need to allow for that messiness, knowing that exploration, mistakes and missteps are all part of learning. We must resist the temptation to drop the “in pursuit” and focus only on the “understanding,” as if learning amounts to nothing more than the dogmatic piling up of facts.

The pursuit of understanding emphasizes the dynamics of learning, which necessarily expands our abilities to comprehend a broad range of perspectives and experiences. Most importantly, the pursuit of understanding pushes us to ask what sort of human each of us wants to be in relation to others. Our future together relies on being forever in pursuit.

Elizabeth H. Bradley is the president of Vassar College and a professor of science, technology and society, and of political science. She is deeply engaged with research on the performance and quality of higher education institutions in the U.S. Jonathon S. Kahn is a professor of religion and the former director of engaged pluralism at Vassar College. He works at the intersection of race, religious ethics and politics.

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IMAGES

The Historical And Social Background Of Mauritius Education Essay
Reform of basic education in Mauritius: the process of information
English in Primary Education in Mauritius: The Use of a Foreign
(PDF) Tertiary Education in Mauritius: Increasing Access Through
(PDF) Social returns to education in the Republic of Mauritius
introduction to university of mauritius

COMMENTS

The Educational System In Mauritius Education Essay
The educational system in Mauritius is largely based on the British School system. After the independence of our island Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam promoted free education and thus allowed everyone to have equal right to education and now schooling is compulsory up to the age of 16. This year the government has allocated Rs 4,208 million to ...
Education in Mauritius
The education system in Mauritius is categorized into 4 main sectors - pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary. There is additionally a provision for pre-vocational and vocational education and training for school leavers and students outside of the academic stream. Pre-primary schools accept students from the age of three.
PDF COMMUNIQUÉ Free Education in Tertiary Education ...
Ministry Of Education And Human Resources, Tertiary Education And Scientific Research 1) The Public is hereby informed that Government has decided to introduce free higher education in public Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs). 2) The measure will cover the following public TEIs, namely: i. University of Mauritius; ii.
Achieving Education for All: the experience of Mauritius
The Plan for Mauritius spelt out the objective of ensuring education for all, on the principle that3 a literate and intelligent population is the best guarantee of future economic wisdom. This intensified in 1948, when a simple literacy test became a criterion for eligibility to vote.
Free Public Higher Education In Mauritius And The Way Forward
Free Tertiary Education is not in itself a novel concept. Since 1977 the University of Mauritius was technically delivering undergraduate courses at no cost to those who obtained a seat. Students were not charged tuition fees but nevertheless, had to meet general fees which was around Rs 4000 in the late 1990s and that gradually increased to Rs ...
Schooling Education in Mauritius
The GER of primary schooling is 100% and the T:L ratio is approximately 1:27. In March 2011, there were 350 primary schools with 116,068 learners, 51% of whom were boys and 49% girls. This pattern of gender distribution replicates the enrolment trends in pre-primary education (ibid.).
The Education System In Mauritius Education Essay
The Education System In Mauritius Education Essay. Education has been free for the secondary degree since 1977 and for full clip undergraduate degree at the University of Mauritius since 1988. The State provides equal support for instruction, on occasion striving tight budgets and even subsidising a great portion of the outgo in grant aided ...
PDF Schooling Education in Mauritius
Independent Mauritius modelled itself as a democratic, politically stable welfare state, founded on the principle of free compulsory education as a backbone to development. Today, it is regarded as a higher middle-income country with gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita of 22,278 USD (World Bank 2018).
(PDF) Schooling Education in Mauritius
Schooling Education in Mauritius. August 2021. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-0032-9_54. In book: Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia (pp.575-605) Authors: Michael Samuel. University of KwaZulu ...
Secondary Education
Secondary Education in Mauritius is a 7-year cycle from Grade 7 to Grade 13. With the Nine-Year Continuous Basic Education (NYCBE)reforms (2016), ALL children having completed the first six years of basic education (Grades 1 to 6) in their primary school, move on to Grade 7 in a secondary school. Grade. Level of Education. Grades 1 to 6. Primary.
The Education System in Mauritius
Education plays an important role in the development of the country. The education system in Mauritius is divided into pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary education. Mainly based on the British system; the education in Mauritius has been widely influenced by the British colonization. Long after the independence of the country in 1968 ...
Exploring the Debate of Free Public Tertiary Education in Mauritius
Abstract. This paper comes at the right moment when the Prime Minister of Mauritius declared on the 1st January 2019 that there would be free tertiary education in public universities of the country. This measure was instinctively considered as populist due to the imminence of forthcoming elections in the country and met with criticisms from ...
PDF Think Mauritius
Rethinking the Education System in Mauritius A Discussion Paper Proposed by Think Mauritius 1. Introduction 1.1 Importance of education Education is the foundation of our society; it is a lifelong empowerment process, which helps citizens to develop personally and to become empathic individuals. It enables individuals to develop to their
Education In Mauritius: Schools, Culture, And Living
Schooling in Mauritius. The Mauritian education system follows the Anglo-Saxon model and is divided into primary, secondary, and higher education. Schooling is compulsory and free until age 16, and children between the ages of 3-5 must attend preschool before moving on to primary school. Wearing uniforms is mandatory in government schools.
The Secondary Education In Mauritius Education Essay
The Secondary Education In Mauritius Education Essay. Since the 1980's, education has always been one of the most over-ridding priorities of all existing Mauritian governments. This is because our island does not have any natural resources and education is the key to success and prosperity of the nation. Education, therefore, has been at the ...
What are the implications of free public tertiary education?
In his traditional New Year's address to the nation on 1 January 2019, the prime minister of Mauritius made an announcement which he described as historic: as from the start of the academic year 2019, education in all public tertiary education institutions in Mauritius, for both full-time and part-time courses leading to a certificate, diploma or degree, will be free for all Mauritian citizens.
Open Educational Resources
example, the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE) offers a Postgraduate Diploma in Inclusive and Special Education (PGDISE; MIE, 2015). Advances in the field of inclusive education in Mauritius are still at a budding stage and much research is required to understand the application of inclusive education in Mauritius.
Educational reforms in Mauritius : Let's empower teachers
MOEHR (2008). Ministry of Education and Human Resources Strategy Plan 2008-2020, Phoenix: Mauritius. Mok, M. M. C. and Cheng, Y. C. (2001). 'A theory of self-learning in a human and technological environment: Implications for education reforms'. International Journal of Education Management, 15(4), 172-186.
Free education: Cost Sharing
Free education has served us well over the past five decades especially in terms of access, in improving our mean years of schooling, in enrolment in higher education and female education and in reducing socioeconomic inequality. ... An Appeal Dear Reader 65 years ago Mauritius Times was founded with a resolve to fight for justice and fairness ...
Barriers and Enablers to Inclusive Education in Mauritius: Perceptions
Advocated as an educational philosophy to tackle exclusion, inclusive education (IE) is now a worldwide trend. Despite the well-acknowledged benefits of inclusion, educational practitioners have several difficulties which act as significant setbacks in operationalising inclusion in practice. Given its novelty in Mauritius, IE implementation is not fully understood.
PDF Kreol in Mauritian Schools: Mother Tongue Language Education and Public
Kreol or lack thereof. My essay concludes by analyzing the broader context of this Mauritian case study, explicating the benefits of mother tongue language education beyond the scope of Mauritius and comparing language education policy and its effects in other creole-speaking, post-colonial nations in order to situate Mauritius within the greater,
Schools in Mauritius
Things to know about schools in Mauritius: Education is mandatory for students up to the age of 16. After the independence of Mauritius, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam promoted free education and thus, allowed everyone to have equal right to education and now schooling is compulsory up to the age of 16. This year, the government has allocated Rs ...
Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Free Education
Disadvantages of Free Education. On the downside, free education can strain public resources. Governments must find ways to fund education, which may lead to increased taxes or cuts in other areas. Furthermore, the surge in student numbers can lead to overcrowded classrooms and reduced quality of education. Lastly, free education might devalue ...
GCSE results day 2024: Everything you need to know ...
Thousands of students across the country will soon be finding out their GCSE results and thinking about the next steps in their education.. Here we explain everything you need to know about the big day, from when results day is, to the current 9-1 grading scale, to what your options are if your results aren't what you're expecting.
The power of epistemic humility (opinion)
Elizabeth H. Bradley and Jonathon S. Kahn ask if the breakdown of dialogue on campus is in part a reflection of how we teach. A new academic year is set to begin after what was one of the most tumultuous years on college campuses since the Vietnam War-era protests. Depending on one's perspective, higher education institutions have emerged as sites of protest against a disturbing foreign ...