DEV VIRAHSAWMY
5, Edwin Ythier Street, Rose Hill, 71368, Mauritius
limemsa@gmail.com https://boukiebanane.com
OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
ON LITERACY AND MODERN LIVING
Sorry mates,
You both have missed the boat! Just like SSR, SAJ, SGD, NR, PRB. Like most Mauritians, you neither understand the importance of national literacy nor do you know or want to know how to achieve it.
SOME FACTS:
1. In the 1950’s, primary schooling was made free and quite accessible to most children;
2. In the 1970’s, secondary schooling was made free and quite accessible to most children;
3. Yet 75% of the population are non-literate and non-numerate (they cannot read, write and count).
WHY IS THAT SO?
1. The main reason is the refusal to use the children’s mother tongue not as a subject or support language BUT as the main medium of instruction. Mauritian (Mauritian Creole) is the first language (L1) of over 90% of all children. Not accepting a sound pedagogical principle is a form of brutality, torture and denial of our children’s rights. It is, without any doubt, a form of ‘mental rape’.
2. It is generally believed that literacy is not a necessity for good living. BUT IT IS!
3. Politicians favour voting based on party symbols and ‘block vote’ and not on voters choosing individual candidates which is possible if and only if they can read the names of candidates.
4. Media outlets (private and public, written and electronic) only pay lip-service to the promotion, development and standardisation of our national language and the mother tongue of over 90% of the population.
5. Ignorance of creolistics, a branch of linguistics, is a key problem. Do we know that English, the UNIVERSAL language of planet Earth, is a creole language?
6. Do we know and want to know that President Macron of France has just admitted that French has already lost the battle against English and that important legal French documents (passport, ID card etc.) are now bilingual (French and English)?
7. Do we know or want to know that when European leaders meet, they mostly use English as the main tool of international communication?
8. Do we realise that language loyalty in favour of French or any ancestral language (Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Urdu etc.) is a major obstacle to national development and these languages should be taught as foreign languages, once basic bilingual literacy (in Mauritian and English) has been achieved?
QUE FAIRE?
Universal literacy is NOT a luxury but a fundamental tool for economic, political, social and cultural development.
The right language policy can make of our Republic a world model for universal functional literacy. We have the needed resources but ‘bizen tir katarak dan lizie’. Ayo! DIFISIL OUVER LIZIE TANG!
12.05.23