DAN PARADI TRILENG
3 OR 5 CREDITS
HEAD IN THE SAND
In Mauritius we KNOW without learning and FIND without searching.
There is a big outcry about limiting access to H.S.C. An important pedagogical issue has turned into demagogic matter for cheap politics.
H.S.C. is a pre-university course of studies which aim at preparing young men and women for tertiary education.
QUESTIONS: 1. Do all young men and women have the aptitude, disposition and preference for such studies?
2. How many young men and women with 5 credits manage to get a full H.S.C. certificate (and what percentage)?
3. How many young men and women with 3 credits manage to get at least 2 A-levels (and what percentage)?
4. How many young men and women start H.S.C. but drop out without completing the course (and what percentage)?
I don’t have the answers but those who are shouting their discontent and sense of outrage from rooftops should oblige by providing the answers.
Should we not rather try to imagine a set of possibilities for young men and women who may not necessarily be attracted by university studies but may want to develop soft and hard skills; technical and professional skills etc.?
Is it not time for us to face reality instead of selling dreams of AI, IT and robotics when thousands of young men and women, after 7-10 years ‘LOR BAN LEKOL’, still do not possess basic literacy and numeracy skills?
When will we understand that global development needs a literate population and basic literacy can best be achieved through the child’s mother tongue? When will we understand that Mauritian is the mother tongue of most of our children? When will we understand that Mauritian is our national language and is NOT a patois, dialect or some form of broken French? When will we heed the wisdom of philosophy and scriptures which repeat and repeat “KNOW THYSELF”?
29.01.20