Education in Mauritius

Population: 1,3 million people

Literacy Rate: ? %

GNP: USD ? per capita

Human Development Index: 0.? 

The education system in Mauritius is largely based on the British system since Mauritius was a former British colony. After the country became independent in 1968, education became one of the main preoccupations of the Mauritian Government to meet the new challenges awaiting the country. Considerable investment of resources, both human and material, has been put into the Education sector and impressive progress has been achieved in terms of free, universal, compulsory primary education, free textbooks, free secondary education and a fairly wide range of higher education courses at the University of Mauritius.

Education has been free through the secondary level since 1976 and through the post-secondary level since 1988. The government has made an effort to provide adequate funding for education, occasionally straining tight budgets and even subsidised a great part of the expenditure in the Private Confessional schools, that is, schools under the control of the Catholic Church. However, the pre-primary schools are still privately owned.

Primary sector

Children are enrolled in primary school from the age of six and enter Standard I and move automatically up to Standard IV. As the child reaches Standard IV, there is a streaming process that follows. The system is highly competitive and a two-year preparation starts since Standard V up to Standard VI for the end of primary school examinations, the CPE (Certificate of Primary Education). The CPE is a national examination carried out in all the schools of the island following a grading system. Five subjects are compulsory and taken into account for the ranking process; English, French, Mathematics, Science, and History and Geophaphy. The Asian languages are included in the grading process.

This examination was like a bottleneck from primary to secondary schools, when the ranking system was in force (expounded in the next paragraph). For instance, out of 25,629 candidates in 1996, 16,737 passed all grades included (Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, 1998). Among them, only about 8,000 were admitted to secondary schools, both State and Private of the island, and some 3,000 found their way to Basic Prevocational or technical school. Over 14,000 students are said to be, ‘left without a future’. On the whole, the CPE examination was basically like a kind of streaming at the national level.

Secondary sector

Before 2001, children were admitted to secondary schools or colleges solely on the basis of national ranking. That created an enormous disparity among the different colleges of the island. For instance, some colleges were deemed to be "star" schools whilst others were regarded as low-performing schools. This played an important role in the development of the adolescents who very often tend to identify themselves with the external image of the college.

In 2001, the government in power with Steven Obeegadoo acting as minister of education decided to abolish this system. Instead, a grading system, like that of most developed countries was introduced. Moreover, it was coupled with a regionalisation system which advocates obtaining a school near one´s residence. The system is still in use today but is menaced to be changed yet once more for an "A+" system by the end of this year. This system is very similar to the ranking system of pre-2001. In this system, children have to go through 2 examinations at the most; one to merely give them a low-performing school and another, which is optional, to compete for a much coveted star-school seat. The system has been qualified as inhumane and starkly inappropriate for a country such as Mauritius, even by foreign experts.[citation needed]

As has been mentioned earlier, the CPE determines admission to a secondary college. Most of the colleges whether they are State owned or privately owned are like English-style grammar schools. The child enters college in Form I and progresses through to Form VI, requiring seven years of schooling since there is two years preparation for the A-Level examinations. From Form I to III, there is no major nationally devised curriculum since each school has to plan its work according to the level of the students. However, some subjects are compulsory, like English, French, Mathematics, Sciences and Social Studies (including Geography and History).

When students reach Form IV, they have to choose at least six major subjects for their O-Level examinations. Then students have to specialise in 3 main subjects and 2 subsidiary ones for the A Level examination. The O-Level and A-Level examinations are carried out by the University of Cambridge through the Cambridge International Examinations, which devises the syllabus; prepares and prints the examinations papers and do the correction for a few subjects only.

Tertiary sector

Tertiary education which started in 1924 with the College of Agriculture has since developed into a diversified system, composed of public, private, regional and overseas institutions catering for a wide range of courses and programmes.

Tertiary education in Mauritius is characterized by a wide range of institutions with diverse characteristics. Some provide all levels of tertiary education in a range of disciplines while others focus their activities on only one or two areas at certain levels. A number of the institutions are overseas with their provisions made available through the distance education mode. Within the public sector, tertiary education revolves around the University of Mauritius (UoM), the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE), the Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) and the Mauritius College of the Air (MCA). Overseeing the four tertiary education institutions (TEIs) is the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) which, inter alia, has responsibility for allocating public funds, and fostering, planning and coordinating the development of post-secondary education and training.

Two Polytechnics, managed by the Technical School Management Trust Fund (TSMTF) also operate within the public sector. They are namely the Swami Dayanand Institute of Management (ex. Droopnath Ramphul Polytechnic) and the Institut Superieur de Technologies (ex. Institut Polytechnique de Rose-Hill). The Industrial and Vocational Training Board (IVTB) and the Mauritius Institute of Health (MIH) equally dispense tertiary level programmes in selected areas.

In addition to the above publicly-funded institutions (PFIs), an estimated 35 private institutions and 50 overseas institutions / bodies are presently delivering tertiary-level programmes, mostly in niche areas like Information Technology, Law, Management, Accountancy and Finance. A majority of these private institutions operate on a part-time basis, in the evenings, weekends and on some weekdays with relatively small student cohorts. Most, if not all, of the programmes are those of overseas institutions. These are being offered by franchise agreements whereby the overseas institutions provide programme materials and / or tutorial support. Apart from playing an administrative role, the local partners also provide tutorial support and in certain cases local institutions deliver programmes using exclusively their own resources. The local tertiary education scene also comprises four tertiary education institutions with a regional vocation, namely the University of the Indian Ocean (UIO), the Institut de la Francophonie Pour Lâe Entrepreneuriate (IFE), the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Medical College (SSRMC) and the Mauras College of Dentistry (MCD). The activities of these institutions are geared towards programmes in very limited or specific disciplines.

The provision of tertiary education extends beyond the local tertiary education institutions given that a significant number of Mauritian students either go overseas or resort exclusively to the open learning mode for pursuing their studies.

Updated On: 15.05.09