education and training in mauritius

Chapter 2

Education and Training inMauritius

5

DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION: SOME HIGHLIGHTS

“Whether or not expanded educational opportunities will translate intomeaningful development – for an individual or for society – dependsultimately on whether people actually learn as a result of thoseopportunities i.e. whether they incorporate useful knowledge, reasoningability, skills and values. The focus of basic education must, therefore,be on actual learning acquisition and outcome, rather than exclusivelyopen enrolment, continued participation in organised programmes andcompletion of certification requirements.”

World Conference on Education for All Jomtien, Thailand, March 1990

The Mauritian education system has been to a large extent shaped by the type of schoolingdevelopment in the French and British colonial times. It has evolved from a completely privateenterprise to a national education system. The growth of education came about with an increase

in annual income coupled with a high social demand for education. Government’s impetus for freeprimary education for all, which started in the 1940’s, resulted in near universal enrolment at primarylevel, long before primary education was made compulsory in 1991. In 1976, the decision to providefree secondary education caused enrolment at secondary level to rise considerably. In 1978, thePrivate Secondary Schools Authority (PSSA) was set up to look after the running of the privatesecondary schools and to maintain its standards. The education wave was thus an inexorable one indeveloping the Mauritian society.

In 1975, the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE), was set up to provide training (pre-service and in-service) to teachers at both primary and secondary levels. This institution was also responsible for

curriculum development activities, which were taken over by the Curriculum Development Centre(CDC) under the aegis of the Ministry of Education in 1985. The CDC became the National Centrefor Curriculum Research and Development (NCCRD) in 1993. The MIE was also looking into someaspects of assessment and examinations, but these activities were taken over by the MauritiusExaminations Syndicate (MES), which was set up in 1984. The MES has the overall responsibility forconducting all national examinations – the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE), the CambridgeSchool Certificate (SC), and the Cambridge Higher School Certificate (HSC); technical andvocational examinations; professional examinations for local and foreign examination bodies; andother local examinations. It also carries out examination-based research aimed at improving theassessment system and informing policy decisions.

Various commissions were appointed to look into the education system and make recommendationsfor its improvement. Most of the reports highlighted the high rate of failures at the end of the primarycycle and the competitive nature of our examinations system. The absence of a proper structure forpre-primary education and provision for remedial education were also stressed.

In the 1990s, Mauritius had two major attempts at reforms as reflected by the Master Plan ofEducation (Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, 1991) and the Action Plan of Mauritius(Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, 1998). Several projects were implemented by theMauritius Examinations Syndicate – the main one being the publication of the Learning Competencyfor All document in 1992 and the re-designing of the CPE examination in 1994 in terms of Essentialand Desirable Learning Competencies. This led to the revision of all the textbooks for primary levelproduced by the NCCRD. In the early eighties and in 1996, attempts to develop a continuousassessment scheme were made. Unfortunately, these were not successful because of resistance fromteachers due to lack of support and the additional amount of time it required.

With the new millennium, it was felt that it was time for major changes to be brought to the Mauritianeducational system in a bid to equip the country to face new challenges in an increasinglytechnologically and economically competitive and ruthless international environment. Consequently,the education reform plans, Curriculum Renewal in the Primary Sector (2001) and Ending the RatRace in Primary Education and Breaking the Admission Bottleneck at Secondary level – The WayForward (2001), were formulated by the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research.

The need for quality Education

What education is needed for the future is the main concern for the government and in this perspectivethe government wish to give a world class education to the children. The government aims at ensuringthat there are enough quality educational institutions in order to prepare the Mauritian children to meetthe challenges associated with globalisation. Few measures have already been announced like freetransport for students. The country is moving towards the services sector and a global economy. Inthis context, it is important to review what is being taught in schools/colleges. For instance we needto encourage both students and teachers to choose subjects like Tourism studies at ‘O’ and ‘A’ level.

The aim of reforms in education should be to prepare youngsters to be more competent in the worldmarket and more employable in emerging sectors in the Mauritian economy. Infact, it is important todevelop a culture of entrepreneurship. More emphasis should be put on science/technology relatedsubjects to meet the future challenges of our education sector which include the following:

l Providing equal opportunities for all students at all levels of education. Infact, it should be thegovernment’s policy to provide equality of opportunities for students whereby when they startschooling, all children have equal chances to achieve

l Provision of excellent quality of education at all levels and ensure that it is rightly delivered to allstudents. The government should ensure that ICT is taught at all levels of education

l Implementation of proper human resource development strategies in order to face the challengesof globalisation. The objective should be to prepare a qualified and competitive workforce to facefuture challenges that may arise

l Decrease the number of drop-outs and push-outs of our education system. Further vocationaleducation and training should be developed in order to increase opportunities for students.

Structure of the Mauritian Education and Training ProvisionSystem

Mauritius has a 6+5+2 education structure i.e. six years of compulsory primary schooling fromStandard I to Standard VI leading to the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE). This is followed byfive years of compulsory secondary education from Form I to Form V leading to the CambridgeSchool Certificate (SC) and a further two years at secondary ending with the Cambridge HigherSchool Certificate (HSC). Government’s commitment to broadening access to secondary education isreflected in its policy to make education compulsory up to the age of 16, with the introduction of 11-year schooling as from January 2005. This measure has involved relevant changes in legislation.Education is free at primary and secondary levels. At tertiary level, all full-time undergraduateprogrammes are free at the University of Mauritius.

Pre-primary Education Sector

Early development and education (0-5 years) is organised in two separate systems covering twodistinct phases, with the infant/toddler period (0-3 years) known as the Early Childhood Developmentplaced under the responsibility of the Ministry of Women’s Rights, Child Development and FamilyWelfare, and the 3-5 years olds attending Pre-Primary schools under the responsibility of the Ministryof Education and Scientific Research.

Nearly all Mauritian children attend pre-primary schools. Around 1070 pre-primary schools are

officially registered with the Ministry of Education. In 2004, there were 178 pre-primary classesrunning in primary schools. It is the government’s policy to give support and assistance to this sector:a pre-primary unit has been established in the Ministry of Education to strengthen the pre-primarysector and monitor its progress. The government has been endeavouring to provide pre-primaryclasses in most primary schools.

A monthly subsidy of Rs 200 based on a voucher system is given to all children of 4+ who areattending pre-primary schools. Since 2001, six new pre-primary units have been created in the Stateprimary schools and enrolment rate for children aged 4 to 5 has been increased from 95 percent in2000 to 99 percent in 2003-2004. By the year 2006, eight new units will be available.

In order to ensure a quality education at this level, teachers are encouraged to follow the courseleading to the Certificate of Proficiency in Early Childhood Education which is run jointly by theMauritius Institute of Education (MIE) and the Mauritius College of the Air (MCA). This proficiency-based training programme is a very flexible proposal for practitioners who are currently working inthe Early Childhood Development (ECD)/Pre-School sector. To date, 1812 teachers have been fullytrained and another group of 616 are presently following the training programme at MIE.

Primary Education Sector

Primary education became compulsory as from 1991. In March 2006, there were 290 primary schoolsincluding 13 in Rodrigues. 121 387 pupils were attending the 277 schools in Mauritius and 4700 pupilswere attending the 13 primary schools in Rodrigues. Pupils enter Standard I at the age of five and takethe Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) examination after 6 years of schooling. Before the year2002, this examination was used for certification purposes and for ranking pupils for admission to thehighly rated secondary schools. Many pupils preferred to resit this examination to secure a better rankand thus, gain access to better secondary schools. However, as from the year 2002, ranking has beenabolished; a grading system is used. For those who fail the CPE twice or who have reached the age of12 but failed the CPE examination, there exists a pre-vocational stream in secondary schools for aperiod of three years. These students follow a specific skills-based curriculum. 60 to 70 percent ofstudents have passed CPE over the last ten years as shown in Table 2(a).

Table 2(a): Total enrolment by gender in Primary Schools (private* and state), number examined at CPE level and percentage pass at CPE level between 1995-2005 for Rep. of Mauritius

Source: Mauritius Examinations Syndicate. (1995-2006) and CSO 2006

*Those not attending primary schools. B: boys, G: girls, T: Total (1995-2006)

Table 2(b): Enrolment of Students in Secondary School by grade and gender, Republic of Mauritius, 1994 – 2005

Source: Mauritius Examinations Syndicate, (1994-2006)

The pre-vocational education system has been able to capture many CPE failures as shown in Table2(c). After three years of Pre-Vocational Education (PVE), pupils of this stream have started to followas from 2003 a bridging module that enables them to follow the NTC foundation course run by theIndustrial Vocational Training Board (IVTB).

A training programme for teachers working in pre-vocational schools is run by the MIE. The NationalInspectorate has a unit of pre-vocational Inspectors who provide advice and run in-service courses toharmonise teaching strategies around the new curriculum introduced.

Table 2(c): Number of children 12 years and above who joined pre-vocational schools

Source: Digest of Educational Statistics, CSO (2005)

Formerly, the curriculum comprised the following subjects: English, French, Mathematics, EnvironmentalStudies (EVS), Creative Arts, Physical Education and Asian Languages/Arabic. EVS has now been splitinto Science, History & Geography, and new subjects have been introduced namely CitizenshipEducation, Arts and ICT.

The Numeracy and Literacy Strategy was launched in all schools in June 2003 on an experimental basis.The aim of this strategy is to ensure that all children leaving primary school have acquired the basicliteracy and numeracy skills. Since 2002, the School Information Technology Project (SITP) wasintroduced in all primary schools in order to allow children to understand the basic aspects of Informationand Communication Technology.

30 primary schools, have had a pass rate of less than 40 percent over the last five years at the CPEexamination, form part of the Education Action Zones. These ZEP schools, as they are called, are givenspecial support by the government in terms pedagogical materials, food and incentives for teachers.

Currently, the annual expenditure per pupil at primary level is about Rs10 952 (US$ 365) and the teacherto pupil ratio is 1:23.

Secondary Education Sector

The total number of students in the secondary schools has increased and it was around 110 000 in 2005as shown in Table 2(b) on page 27. Presently there are 70 state schools and 109 private schools providingsecondary education. The private schools are also allocated government funds through the PrivateSecondary Schools Authority (PSSA) which further provides technical advice and guidance. Currently,the annual expenditure per student at secondary level is about Rs 21 500 (US$ 717) and the teacher topupil ratio is 1:14.

With the introduction of the 11-year compulsory education, children joining Form I in the mainstream andpre-vocational stream have to stay on until they are at least 16 years old. This stage of educationestablishes a link between primary education, vocational education, higher education and labour market.The lower secondary curriculum is being reviewed in the context of a National Curriculum of 11 years ofschooling. More attention is being focused on the need to diversify the type of secondary education thathas to be offered. While traditional emphasis has been on the provision of an education that emphasizedthe academic component, a new system of post ‘O’ level polytechnic education is being planned for thosestudents who, after the completion of 11 years of schooling, would rather opt for a different type ofeducation that is closer to the world of work. The overall percentage of children, including both pre-vocational and mainstream, in the 12 to 15 age group enrolled in the secondary sector has increased from80.7 percent in 2000 to 89.6 percent in 2005.

Table 2(d): Number of students examined and percentage pass at School Certificate between 1990 - 2005

Source: Digest of Educational Statistics (1994 – 2006) & Mauritius Examination Syndicate Examinations Statistics(2003 - 2006)

With most learning geared towards examinations and the scoring of high marks, there has been atendency to neglect non-examinable subjects, with little consideration for the emotional,psychological and aesthetic development of children. Rote learning and memorisation of factscombined with private tuition are dominant features at both primary and secondary levels.

Tables 2(d) and 2(e) show the pass rate at SC and HSC levels respectively since 1990, they also showthe pass rate according to gender.

Presently, around 72 percent of a cohort completes the CPE examinations successfully every year aftertheir first or second attempt. 55 percent of the cohort successfully complete the School Certificate butonly 35 percent access the Upper Secondary (i.e. the HSC/GCE ’A’ Level). The remaining 65 percent,representing about 13 000 children (made up of 5000 children who are successful at SC/GCE ‘O’ Levelexaminations, but, their results do not allow them to proceed to the Upper Secondary; 4000 childrenwho are unsuccessful at SC/GCE ‘O’ Level examinations; and 4000 children following pre-vocationalcourses) are not sufficiently catered for. These children either follow various vocational courses or jointhe world of work. Only about 28 percent of every cohort are successful at HSC level.

Tertiary Education

The University of Mauritius (UOM) and the University of Technology Mauritius (UTM) are the onlytwo degree awarding institutions in the country. Overall, the range of programmes is quite diversifiedand includes agriculture, engineering, law and management, science, and social studies & humanities.These courses are offered at certificate, diploma, degree, masters and doctoral levels on a part-time,full-time basis as well as through flexible distance modes.

The tertiary education system is characterised by a wide range of providers, provision and levels ofprogrammes. Within the public sector, tertiary education revolves around nine institutions: UOM,UTM, the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE), the Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI), the MauritiusCollege of the Air (MCA) (which has recently been set up as the Open University of Mauritius), theSwami Dayanand Institute of Management (SDIM) and “l’Institut Supérieur de Technologie” (IST).The Industrial and Vocational Training Board (IVTB) and the Mauritius Institute of Health (MIH) alsodispense tertiary level programmes in selected areas. Table 2(f) shows an indication of the number ofstudents enrolled at UOM by faculties between 1994 to 2006.

In addition to the publicly-funded institutions (PFIs), an estimated 30 private institutions and 50overseas institutions/bodies deliver tertiary-level programmes, mostly in niche areas like InformationTechnology, Law, Management, Accountancy and Finance. The local tertiary education scene also

Source: Digest of Educational Statistics, CSO (1994 – 2006) and Mauritius Examination Syndicate ExaminationsStatistics 2003 - 2006)

Table 2(e): Number of students examined and percentage pass at Higher School Certificate between 1990 – 2005

comprises two tertiary education institutions with a regional vocation, namely the University of theIndian Ocean (UIO) and the “Institut de la Francophonie pour l’Entrepreneuriat (IFE)” and two privatecolleges, namely the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Medical College (SSRMC) and a Dental College.

A majority of these private institutions operate on a part-time basis, in the evenings, weekends and onsome weekdays with relatively small student cohorts. Most, if not all, of the programmes they offerare those from overseas institutions. These are being delivered through franchise agreements wherebythe overseas institutions provide programme materials and/or tutorial support. Apart from playing anadministrative role, the local partners also provide tutorial support and in certain cases usingexclusively their own resources.

The publicly-funded institutions accounted for nearly 60 percent of total tertiary enrolment in 2000;the remaining 40 percent was distributed between private institutions/distance education providers (27 percent) and universities overseas (13 percent). The corresponding figures for 2005 were 46 percent, 28 percent and 25 percent respectively.

Table 2(f): Enrolment at the University of Mauritius 1993/94 - 2005/06 by Faculties

Source: University of Mauritius (2006)

* Courses are run jointly with the University of Mauritius. Certificates are issued by the University of Mauritius

Between 1997 and 2003, there has been a remarkable improvement in the provision of degreeprogrammes from 27 to 93 and of masters level programmes from 6 to 34 in publicly-fundedinstitutions. A total of 208 different programmes were being run in 2003 as compared to 91 in 1997.The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Medical College (SSRMC) and a Dental College have been set upto enable our students to follow courses leading to degrees in medicine and dentistry. The Universityof Mauritius also offers courses leading to the award of degrees in the biomedical sciences.

To address the shortfall of some 4000 seats at tertiary level, the need is felt to encourage both domesticand foreign private investment in tertiary education. The government intends to provide incentives tobrand name institutions from overseas for the setting of up local branches to service local needs as wellas the region. At the same time there is a need for a coherent and conducive regulatory framework togovern the setting up of private universities.

The Gross Tertiary Enrolment Rate1, including those studying overseas has consequently increasedfrom 11.7 percent in 1999 to 28.4 percent in 2005. The demand for tertiary education is mainly fromfresh HSC graduates, unemployed, meeting the requirements for tertiary enrolment and those who arealready working but want to further their career prospects by mainly enrolling for part-time courseslocally or with foreign institutions. Table 2(g) shows the number of students who enrolled for distancelearning by levels and fields of study as at December 2005.

Note: Above statistics exclude 1887 candidates enrolled through Distance Mode (MIE - 1533 & MCA - 354)

Source: Digest of Educational Statistics, CSO (2006)1 Gross Tertiary Enrolment Rate – refers to the number of students enrolled at the tertiary level, both locally and overseas, as

a percentage of the population in the age group 19-24 years

Table 2(g): Enrolment through Private Providers/Distance Education by Field and Level of Study as at December 2005

Fields of study Masters Professional Bachelor Diploma/ Diploma Certificate TotalDegree Degree Degree

Accountancy 2747 12 5 2,764Admin./Management 505 258 121 40 148 14 1,086Arts 249 249Business/Commerce/Mkg 379 289 2 28 108 806Communication 108 27 135Dentristry 158 158Design 58 58Economics 122 9 131Education 4 35 39Engineering 2 2Finance 35 13 48Health Related 1 11 12Humanities 30 30Information Technology 21 495 385 297 63 1,261Languages 138 45 183Law 3 78 189 9 279Mathematics 66 22 88Medicine 547 547Pharmacy 2 2Religious Studies 15 15Science 12 12Social Science 114 114Transport 11 11Travel/Hotel/Tourism 11 27 12 50Not Available 30 30

Total 5 2 3 3,692 2,468 7 1 0 5 1 2 2 0 5 8,110

Table 2(h): Projected HSC Population and HSC Graduates, 2004 – 2015

Source: Tertiary Education Commission quoted in Developing Mauritius into a Knowledge Hub and a Centre of HigherLearning (2005)

In line with the global trend, tertiary education in Mauritius is also witnessing growing demand as thenumber of students enrolling is increasing year by year. As an indication, the number of local enrolmentin the publicly funded institutions and private institutions including Distance Education has increasedsignificantly from 12 000 in 1999 to 21 000 in 2005 (representing an increase of nearly 75 percent).

Expected Output From The Education System

In Mauritius, expenditure on education and enrolment at all levels is continuously increasingespecially at secondary and tertiary levels. Consequently, the number of passes at all level of theeducation system is continuously increasing, which, will leave the country with a more educatedworkforce. The following Tables 2(h) and 2(i) give us an indication of the number of HSC holders anduniversity graduates that our education system will produce in the next three years and more.

Table 2(i) shows the evolution of the tertiary education enrolment from 1999 to 2005. The Tablecomprises the number enrolled in publicly funded institutions, Distance Learning and those studyingabroad. These figures can be considered as the number of graduates that the tertiary sector will produceas the level of failure at tertiary level is minimal as compared to SC and HSC. The figures also showthe Gross Tertiary Enrolment rate for the six years.

Table 2(i): Evolution of Tertiary Education Enrolment by Source, 1999 – 2004

Source: Tertiary Education Commission quoted in Developing Mauritius into a Knowledge Hub and a Centre of HigherLearning (2005)

Table 2(j): Gross Tertiary Enrolment Rate (GTER) for Selected Countries

Compiled from Data Obtained from UNESCO

*Source: Tertiary Education Commission ( 2005)

Even though the enrolment rate of Mauritian students at tertiary level has gone up tremendously in the pastfive years, the Gross Tertiary Enrolment Rate is still low as compared to other countries as shown in Table 2(j).

Figure 2.1: Structure of Mauritian Education and Training Provision System

KEY : (Note: Figures quoted are as at year 2004)NTC : National Trade CertificateIVTB : Industrial and Vocational Training BoardGER : Gross Enrolment Ratio

1 : Pre-Vocational Education was launched in 2000/01 school year and comprises predominantly students who failed CPEExamination: it is followed by the NTC Foundation Course,

2 : Requirements for NTC Level II vary between SC and HSC or NTC III3 : Requirements for NTC Level III vary between Form III and SC or NTC Foundation Course (Minimum age: 15),4 : Upper Secondary are included in the structure of Private Secondary Schools, whereas for the State sector, Sixth Form Colleges

have been set up since 2003,5 : Refers to Post A-level / HSC.* : Includes municipalities/village councils and roman catholic aided school

** : Include both Upper Secondary and lower Secondary, as appropriate.*** : Refers to enrolment in IVTB Centres only, (figures are provisional) o/w full time (NTC II and NTC III): 2, 533, part-time

(mostly non-award courses); 4020**** : Estimates: source Tertiary Education Commission.

The structure of the Mauritian education and training provision system is shown in Figure 2.1.

The National Qualifications Framework

In the wake of the rapid development taking place in the private provision of tertiary education locally,two institutions have been created by the Government, namely the Mauritius Qualifications Authority(MQA) and the National Accreditation and Equivalence Council (NAEC), set up to look after aspectsof quality and accreditation. The MQA has been established with the objectives of developing,implementing and maintaining a National Qualifications Framework for an effective certificationsystem, ensuring compliance with provisions for registration and accreditation as per the MQA Act2001 and ascertaining that standards and registered qualifications are internationally comparable.

MQA is responsible for the formulation of policies for the registration and accreditation of bodiesresponsible for establishing, monitoring and auditing national standards and qualifications. It is alsocalled upon to register qualifications, register and accredit training institutions, recognise and validatecompetencies for purposes of certification obtained outside the formal education and training systems,generate national standards for any occupation, keep a database of learning accounts and publish anannual list of registered unit standards, qualifications and training institutions. In 2005, around 325training institutions were registered with the MQA.

Expenditure on Education

Undoubtedly, human capital is a key determinant of economic growth and emerging evidenceindicates that it is also associated with a wide range of non-economic benefits such as better healthand well-being. Investment in human capital, and by implication in education, has thus moved tocentre stage in strategies to promote economic prosperity, fuller employment and social cohesion. Asa result, education is increasingly considered an investment in the collective future of societies andnations, rather than simply in the future success of individuals.

One way of assessing the impact of human capital for the collective performance of nations is bymeasuring the impact of various factors on growth in gross domestic product. GDP alone, or eveneconomic well-being, cannot adequately reflect the full dimensions of human well-being – whichinclude the enjoyment of human rights and civil liberties, good health, a clean environment andpersonal safety – but the role of economic growth in this equation should not be underestimated.Growth in economic output not only provides the resources for tackling poverty, social exclusion andpoor health, but also expands the range of human choice. Economic well-being, flowing fromeconomic output, should thus be recognised as an important component of human well-being.

Many studies conducted both in developed and developing countries have shown that there exists adirect link between economic growth and investment in education; many countries have realised thisand have invested heavily in education.

Table 2(k) shows public expenditure on education as a percentage of the Gross National Product forsome countries. One important observation is that the average expenditure for the world stood at 5.2percent in 1994.

World 5.2

China 2.5

Philippines 3.0

Thailand 4.1

India 3.3

Malaysia 4.7

Singapore 3.0

Pakistan 2.8

Turkey 2.2

South Korea 3.7

Egypt 4.8

Mexico 4.9

Brazil 5.1

Argentina 3.8*

United States 5.4*

Japan 3.6*

Canada 6.9*

Germany 4.8

Russian Federation 3.5

Poland 5.2

Hungary 5.3

Source: UNESCO (1999)

Table 2(k): Public Expenditure on Education as percent of GNP in 1995

Progress towards quality in primary education is seen in high enrolment rates, investment ininfrastructure (school buildings, playgrounds, school gardens, audio-visual facilities and schoollibraries), decreasing pupil-teacher ratio, school feeding programme, school health programme,provision of free text-books, teacher education and an effective assessment system. The totalexpenditure in the education sector has increased continuously over the years as shown in Table 2(l).

For the year (2005/2006), the budget devoted to education in Mauritius is Rs 6 900 million whichmakes education the largest sector of government in terms of public expenditure. This amountrepresents 16.5 percent of public expenditure, excluding debts servicing.

From the figures in Table 2(m), it is clear that the government has continuously increased the share ofexpenditure on education, having realised the importance of investing in education, and it provides anindication of the percentage of total expenditure of GDP for the past ten years.

Table 2(l): Public Expenditure on Education in Mauritius (2001 – 2005)

1 annual, 2 provisional: budget estimates, 3 includes administrative staff, MES, MRC & Conservatoire4 includes Sea Training, MIH, IVTB, MQA, Training Program & Technology - School IT ProgramN.B 1 US$ is approximately Rs 34

Source: Digest of Educational Statistics CSO (2006)

On the international scene, India provides a good example of a developing country investing heavilyin education. India is home to 17 percent of World’s total population accommodated in an area of 2.4percent of the World’s total area. The country has witnessed phenomenal educational development –both in quantitative and qualitative terms, since independence.

Table 2(m): Percentage of GDP spent on education for Mauritius

Year Percentage of GDP at market price spenton education in Mauritius

Source: CSO (2006 )

However, the national goals of universal elementary education and total eradication of illiteracy have stillremained elusive. The government is committed to achieving these national goals and has been steadilyincreasing the budgetary allocation for education. India spent 4.11 percent of its GDP on education during2000-2001 but about 44 percent of its adult population still remains to be made literate.

Table 2(n) compares the population, literacy rates and level of public expenditure on education in Indiaand some of its neighbouring countries. Afghanistan with 63.75 percent adult illiterates is at the top,closely followed by Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

Improvement in any educational system is inevitably influenced by existing structures and financiallimitations. According to Ginzberg (Ginzberg, 1971), until the people understand that change canoccur, that it can be directed, that education and new technology can assist in achieving it, and thatpeople can benefit from change, little development will occur. Probably the greatest challenge tomaking manpower effective is determining the type and timing of the programme that can bestcontribute to change. Therefore, it is vital to keep moving in a steady and purposive way towardsestablishing a solid human resource base in our country.

Particulars Population Percentage Percentage of adult Public expenditure on(millions) to world illiterate education as(2000) Population (2000) percentage of GN

(1996)

World 6055.0 100 NA NAAfghanistan 21.2 0.35 63.7 NABangladesh 129.2 2.13 59.2 2.2China 1277.6 21.10 15.0 2.3India 1027 16.96 44.2 3.2Indonesia 212.1 3.50 13.0 1.4Japan 126.9 2.10 NA 3.6M y a n m a r 46.4 0.77 15.3 1.2Nepal 22.5 0.37 58.6 3.2Pakistan 156.5 2.58 56.7 2.7Sri Lanka 18.8 0.31 8.4 3.4

Table 2(n): Population, Literacy & Public Expenditure in India and some Neighbouring Countries

Source: Statistical Yearbook (1999), UNESCO & Census of India (2001) – Provisional population total

Recommendations

With a view to achieve key objectives to promote education in general, the government may adopt thefollowing measures:

l Equality of chances in education at all levels. There will be a need to give equal treatment to alleducational institutions financed by the government whether it is in rural or in urban areas

l Ensure that education and training are oriented towards the requirement of globalisation and worldof work so that our labour is well equipped to face the realities of globalisation

l Increase the intake capacity of tertiary institutions to more that 10 000 students. Every year, thenumber of applicants at the University of Mauritius and University of Technology and othertertiary institutions is increasing. Therefore, the government must ensure that the supply of seatsmeets the demand

l Upgrade level and quality of education and promote international recognition of the technical andprofessional studies and also set the standard according to international level

l Review the teaching-learning process by placing more emphasis on teachers’ training and ICT ineducational institutions.

In this context, the government will have to work in collaboration with all the stakeholders and interest groups to achieve the 4 "E" which are:

EmpowermentEducationEntrepreneurshipEmployability

Measures should be taken to promote meritocracy in employment, social justice and equality in recruitment. Career guidance should be intensified with a view to achieve efficiency and competitiveness.

Some of these measures would be:

l Review the Public Service Commission and the Local Government Service Commission for betterequality in the public sector;

l Setting of an Employment Equity Commission to ensure equality in recruitment;l Establishment of Corporate Responsibility Charters; andl Setting up of training and capacity building programmes in order to have more professionals.

education and training in mauritius

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