Introduction
In a series of four press articles, I look forward to producing a comprehensive paper on the failures of primary schools, which I intend to submit to the “Assises de l’éducation” to be held sometime in April this year. 
Aims of education are not new to policy makers. The aims give direction and meaning to educational activities at all levels and in all domains – academic as well as vocational and technical. The list of the different aims of education is inexhaustive; in short, education aims at empowering future citizens for the overall benefits of the society. However, society is not static, consequently, the education system needs to be revisited and reforms implemented as and when required.
Since independence, our education system has undergone many reforms, mainly with the change in government. Despite, the primary and secondary sectors have not seen major changes with the Primary School Leaving Certificate, then the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) and now the Primary School Achievement Certificate (PSAC) awarded upon successful completion of primary education. Cambridge School Certificate (SC) and Higher School Certificate (HSC) are awarded to those completing successfully their secondary education. No attention is given to the alarming and persistent mismatch with the requirements of the labour market.
What real change has been brought by reforms in the education system? It is only the projects for pupils leaving primary school after six or seven years without any success. Below is a list of different projects put in place for failures of primary schools (referred to as ‘primary failures’ onwards):
1990 – Prevocational Training Centres (PVT) run by the Industrial and Vocational Training Board (IVTB)
1995 – Basic Secondary Schools (BSS) run by the Technical School Management Trust Fund
1998 – State Secondary School Vocational (SSSV) run by the Ministry of Education
2001 – Prevocational Education (PVE) project run by the Ministry in collaboration with the Federation of Managers of private secondary schools and the Bureau d’Education Catholique (BEC) (now Service Diocésain de l’Education Catholique, SeDEC)
2018 – Grade 7 Extended Programme (with CPE replaced by PSAC)
2025 – Grade 7 Foundation Programme
The Prevocational Education (PVE) project implemented in 2001, was the only one to have been running for seventeen continuous years. It had ensured basic education for ten years (6 years in primary school, 3 years in a secondary school and one year in Mauritius Institute of Training and Development – MITD – centre). It had enforced the 16 years’ compulsory education as seats were made available with the participation of private secondary schools, thus ensuring access to secondary education to ALL pupils leaving primary school.
In 2018, the PVE was replaced by the Extended Programme (EP) for the only reason that the PVE was seen “to suffer from the stigma of a track fit for the academically less able.” But the failure of the EP was obvious and the Ministry of Education had been warned in a report I submitted in December 2018, one year after the implementation of the EP. Unfortunately, the then Minister of Education had paid no heed and had caused much harm with irreversible effects to thousands of innocent children.
Now, with change in government following the general elections of November 2024, the newly elected Minister of Education is coming up with a new project to replace the EP – a must. Again, another change in project for pupils leaving the primary school without success! Who are those pupils?
Who are those primary failures?
They are those pupils (about 25% every year) who, after six years of primary education, fail the PSAC and thus could not be admitted in the mainstream of secondary schools. Who are they really?
In the first place, those pupils, most of them come from disadvantaged socio-economic background. They live in socially and culturally poor environment with illiterate parents, and in some cases with only the mother or a close relative or in families with low income experiencing financial hardship. That poor family environment inhibits those children from obtaining knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for proper development of the self and well-being. While growing up in such environment, they become deficient in social behavioural skills and develop low cognitive abilities, low self-esteem and little or no motivation for learning. They eventually develop negative attitude to schooling, seeing the school curriculum irrelevant to their perception of the future. The correlation between social class and school performance is well acknowledged. There are specific pathways by which socio-economic disadvantages produce lower school achievement. Children from less literate homes have poorer vocabularies and reasoning skills prior to entering school, along with less parental reinforcement of the literacy and numeracy skills that are taught in school.
Secondly, once admitted in primary school, those children become victims of the automatic promotion system which has prevailed for so many years and for many more years to come. They are automatically promoted to the next grade despite their poor performance in the end of year summative evaluations. With time, due to their low ability, they receive less attention from their teachers who tend to give more time to average and above average pupils in a mixed-ability class. They become “bann zelev ki profeser met deryer dan klas”, as their teachers have seen no hope in their passing the exams. Those students are often marginalized in classrooms, receiving limited attention due to their perceived inability to succeed in exams.
Consequently, their academic performance becomes poorer till they reach the sixth grade with accumulated difficulties in numeracy and literacy and eventually fail to attain the required level to be awarded the PSAC certificate and de facto, fail to be admitted in the mainstream for their secondary education. With the Extended Programme, they were automatically promoted up to the ninth grade, acquiring a cumulative academic deficit and a progressive decline in their intellect functioning. And, then they were made to sit for the National Certificate of Education (NCE), a very competitive examination along with their peers of the mainstream. Finally, they leave the education system without any qualification and join the labour market without any competence.
Thirdly, those pupils display very specific characteristics and they all have more or less the same profile in terms of poor social behaviour and low academic performance. Those pupils are recognised as having learning difficulties which include:
- Academic difficulties – They have trouble with reading, spelling, writing, and calculation at or near the expected level. They also have difficulty understanding instructions, remembering what has been said, grasping basic concepts and solving simple problems. That difficulty becomes more profound when instructions are given in French and/or English.
- Language difficulties – They struggle much in speaking correctly, expressing thoughts, and composing complete sentences. That language difficulty is more acute when the language at school is other than the mother tongue.
- Attention deficit – They have big trouble in staying focused, not being able to pay attention over a long period of time. They get distracted very easily and they switch off very quickly from the main task.
- Impulsive behaviour – More than often, they act without thinking about the possible outcomes, thus becoming disturbing and mischievous or may even appear to be rude in words and actions. At times, they may become hyper-active and display anti-social behaviours with verbal and physical violence.
- Memory difficulties – They have trouble remembering what happened some time ago or something that has been recently viewed. They have poor memory and forget easily what have been said or taught to them. They have difficulty to follow directions and multi-step instructions, thus getting lost in activities assigned to them. They have much problem in processing information given to them, to consequently lose interest, get demotivated and display negative attitude.
Now that those primary failures are better known for their limited social and economic opportunities, their big learning difficulties and their acute behaviour problems, how to educate them? Education is important for all children; no child is to be left behind. Prior to embarking on discussing the type of education most suitable for those pupils, the most appropriate pedagogy that suits their learning style is discussed.
What pedagogy best suits those children?
Some of the most suitable pedagogies are hereunder presented in an unprioritized list for those pupils who join the secondary school and are placed in specific stream with a completely different curriculum.
- Cooperative learning and peer tutoring – This strategy makes room for the children to help each other; those students who are somehow better in a particular subject help their peers in understanding and grasping concepts that appear difficult to them. This pedagogy can help students build confidence and engage in active learning.
- Experiential learning – This strategy gets the students involved in activities which help them acquire basic knowledge and skills. Being engaged in activities, the children become more concentrated in their learning process and are less distracted. This pedagogy equally promotes motivation and a positive attitude to schooling.
- Learner-centered pedagogy – Child-centered pedagogy is a teaching method that focuses on the child as the starting point for learning, and gives priority to the child’s voice and participation. The students take on more responsibility for their learning. This strategy encourages participation, creates multiple pathways for children to learn, encourages children to work together and build on each other’s ideas and creates flexible learning environments and meaningful learning opportunities.
- Assistive and multisensory instruction – Through this pedagogy, the teacher gives explicit instruction helped with visuals and any other technological aids. This facilitates the access to information in different formats, thus helps to work around their specific areas of difficulty.
There are many other such pedagogies that are suitable for those students. The educators have to be resourceful and search the web for more teaching strategies so as to help those students in their learning. They should know each student in their class – their prior knowledge, their individual learning style, their motivation level, their interests and aptitudes, their strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, the educators are advised to apply the different interventions in the teaching of those particular students.
And, above all, educators of students with learning difficulties need to have a range of knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Those educators should have a thorough understanding of the nature of learning difficulties, their causes, and characteristics; they should have a positive attitude and be calm and patient towards those students with behaviour problems. They should be able to work collaboratively with other educational professionals and with parents and families to find solutions and ways and means to help those students. Last but not least, the educators should have empathy and a love for teaching such students.
Rajendra Sewpersadsing