Private tuition in Mauritius: the mad race for a place in...

П Е Р research and studies programme Increasing and improving the quality of basic education

Monograph N o . 8

Private tuition in Mauritius: the m a d race for a place in a 'five-star' secondary school

A . Raffick Foondun

International Institute for Educational Planning (Established by U N E S C O )

Private tuition in Mauritius: the m a d race in a 'five-star' secondary school

The views and opinions expressed in this monograph are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of U N E S C O or of the П Е Р . The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of U N E S C O or IIEP concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.

The publication costs of this monograph have been covered through a grant-in-aid offered by U N E S C O and by voluntary contributions m a d e by several M e m b e r States of U N E S C O , the list of which will be found at the end of the document.

This volume has been typeset using IIEP's computer facilities and has been printed in IIEP ' s printshop.

International Institute for Educational Planning 7 - 9 rue Eugène-Delacroix, 75116 Paris

© UNESCO August 1992

Increasing and improving the quality of basic education

Presentation of the series of monographs

The renewed interest being given to basic education calls for the design and implementation of n e w strategies to stop the present deterioration in the expansion and quality of primary and adult education in various developing countries, especially a m o n g the most underpriviledged.

In response to this concern, the IffiP has undertaken an extensive programme of research, training and dissemination with a view to reinforcing the decision-making and planning capacities of the different countries. This series of monographs, Increasing and improving the quality of basic education, is part of this programme.

The aim of the series is to disseminate, as quickly as possible, relevant documentation on basic education to all planners and decision-makers.

V

Contents

Acknowledgement Introduction

Chapter I

Chapter П

Geographic and socio-economic situation of Mauritius

Brief analysis of the Mauritian education system 1. Primary education 2. Secondary education 3. Tertiary education 4. Entering the race to the best secondary school 5. Examinations and competition

IX 1

4 4 6 8 9

10

Chapter 1П

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Private tuition: the first symptom of the race to the 'five-star' secondary schools 1. Specificities of private tuition in Mauritius, compared

with other countries 2. Causes of private tuition 3. Modalities of private tuition 4. Reaction to private tuition 5. Relationship between private tuition and socio-economic

status

Repetition: the second aspect of the race to the 'five-star' secondary schools

Overall implications 1. Distortion of the aims of education 2. Effects on the development of the child 3. Socio-economic inequalities 4. Devaluation of teaching ethics 5. Cost implications 6. External efficiency

Strategies 1. Attitude change 2. Prohibition and licensing 3. Introduction of a special secondary school entrance

examination 4. A nine-year basic education cycle 5. Need for review of the examination system 6. Expansion and greater uniformity

Concluding remarks Bibliography

16

16 18 19 19

20

22

25 25 26 26 26 27 28

29 29 29

30 31 32 32

34 35

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Acknowledgement

I would like first of all to express m y sincere thanks to the Ministry of Education and Science, Mauritius, for nominating m e for the 1991/92 Annual Training Programme at the International Institute for Educational Planning (1ШР). M y thanks also go to the German Foundation for International Development (DSE) which generously sponsored m y studies.

A great debt is due to m y main adviser, M r . Gabriel Carrón, whose constructive criticisms and comments have always been most useful. In addition, appreciation must be extended to M r . Sheldon Shaeffer, m y second adviser, and to M r s W . Courtney, U N E S C O consultant, both of w h o m kindly read this work and discussed it with m e .

Finally, I a m grateful to all those w h o directly or indirectly provided assistance in helping m e complete this manuscript.

A . Raffick Foondun August 1992

IX

Introduction

During the past decade, considerable progress has been achieved in Mauritius, with a very high level of rapid economic and social development. A m o n g developing countries, Mauritius has one of the most advanced educational systems: universal primary education has been achieved, with 98 per cent of children of primary school age enrolled in schools {Master Plan, 1991, p. 1); there is free education up to and including tertiary level; basic textbooks and school feeding are provided free of charge at the primary level; increasing use is m a d e of audio and video facilities; and the transition rates to the secondary and tertiary sectors have increased. At the same time, however, a number of bottlenecks have occurred, the most important of which is a m a d and relentless race to obtain a place in one of the prestigious secondary schools of the island.

This race is the subject of this paper which has been divided into six chapters. Chapter I gives some background information on Mauritius and stresses its geographic and socio-economic situation. Chapter II discusses the functioning of the Mauritian education system with special reference to the discussion which follows. Chapter H I focuses on private tuition, which is the first symptom of the race for access to a prestigious secondary school. A second manifestation of the education system, repetition in the last grade of primary schools, is examined in Chapter IV, whereas the implications of the two anomalies in the functioning of the education system are covered in Chapter V . Finally, a few strategies for correcting the situation as well as their limitations are discussed in Chapter V I , followed by some brief general remarks.

1

Chapter I


Situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean at latitude 20°S. and longitude 57°E., Mauritius was successively occupied by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the British.

The French used Mauritius as a base to fight the British in the Indian Ocean and even in India; they ruled the country for about 90 years. In 1810 the British captured the island, but agreed not to change its existing laws, customs and religion. A s a result, Mauritius continued to be French in language and culture, but English became the official language. English was used by administrators and teachers but never became part of everyday speech. Several British families settled in their new colony, but soon found themselves under the influence of the French culture and over the years became integrated with the large number of French settlers. This community whose members have intermarried are today called Franco-Mauritians.

W h e n slavery was abolished in about 1835, slaves w h o had been brought by French colonizers refused to work in the sugar-cane fields, so the British had to import indentured labourers from India, another British colony. Consequently, at present more than 50 per cent of the population is m a d e up of Hindu Indo-Mauritians, while Muslims constitute a further 16 per cent.

The last racial group, the Chinese, came in 1850 and were soon involved in trading. Others continued to arrive until the 1940s to engage in business.

Today the island is not only multiracial, multiethnic and multireligious, but also multilingual. The official language is English, and government and official documents are always in English. French, however, is more widely spoken. It is the first language of the whites, a few coloured people and some members of the elite class from other ethnic groups. It is also extensively used in several government offices, in most private firms and in a few banks. But the language spoken by all Mauritians is Creole, a form of pidgin French. Finally, some Asian languages, such as Bhojpuri, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telegu and Marathi as well as Chinese are spoken by a large number of the population.

The population, as at 31 March 1991, was 1,088,200 and the infant mortality rate in 1989 was 26.6 per 1,000 people {Master Plan, 1991, p.4), compared with 110 for Sub-Saharan Africa. Unemployment in 1991 was 2.6 per cent The average life expectancy is 71 years, compared with 58 for Sub-Saharan Africa.

2


A s far as the economic situation is concerned, a lot of capital found its w a y to the country between 1984 and 1988 and, as a result, there was a Mauritian 'miracle' with an annual growth rate of 9 per cent. The export-oriented and labour-intensive development strategy yielded positive results, and in 1990 exports amounted to about 55 per cent of gross domestic product ( G D P ) . Manufacturing during the 90s became the main economic sector and accounted "for more than 60 per cent of gross foreign exchange earnings, 30 per cent of value added and 30 per cent of employment" (ibidem). The services sector has grown considerably and today offers employment to about 39 per cent of the total labour force. The annual G D P growth in 1991 was 11.7 per cent and the per capita income rose to US$2,800 . The economic growth rate in 1991 was 4.6 per cent and is expected to rise to 6.5 per cent in 1992 (Week-End, 12 April 1992, p.2).

The rapid economic growth led to a significant improvement in the standard of living, especially in housing and consumer goods. Thus, in 1989, more than one out of every three households had a telephone (Master Plan, 1991, p.4) and at present almost every house has a radio, a television, a vidéocassette recorder and a refrigerator. Finally, the country in 1991 had 105 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants or 80 per square kilometre. The entire country is supplied with electricity and pipe-borne water.

Almost the whole road network in the island is tarred so that communication between the different schools and the Ministry is smooth. School supplies too can be carried easily and, owing to a fairly good public transport system, teaching and non-teaching staff as well as pupils have little difficulty in travelling to and from school.

Such a vigorous economic development has brought about important social changes which in turn have influenced the importance of education. Parents for w h o m education only a decade ago had no meaning have become aware of all the advantages associated with a good certificate. A s the (ibid., p.7) says:

"...the school is seen as the key to personal economic and social advancement; as a central element in the ability of the country to survive in a competitive world, as an influence which will preserve essential values in an increasingly individualistic society..."

Heavy stress is thus placed on getting to a good secondary school, which explains in part the race for a place in an elitist secondary school.

With the health, nutrition, education and per capita income of the people relatively high, Mauritius presents characteristics of both middle- and high-level income countries. It is even considered by a few observers as a potential 'industrial tiger' behind H o n g K o n g , South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. At present it is trying hard to join the privileged class of 'newly industrialized countries'.

With such a high degree of development, it is important that Mauritius has an equally progressive education system which tries to take into account the needs of all students, and not only those of the elitist and rich children.

3

Chapter II

Brief analysis of the Mauritian education system

General remarks

Mauritius inherited its education system from the British. It has a 6+5+2 system of formal education, with a six-year primary school, starting at the age of 5+, and leading to the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE). This is followed by a five-year secondary school leading to the Cambridge School Certificate (CSC), followed by a two-year upper secondary education (Lower V I and Upper VI) ending with the Higher School Certificate (HSC). Children w h o fail the C P E m a y have one re-sit. Those w h o do not pass the C P E at either attempt are not eligible to join the secondary system and m a y enter the technical stream.

Pre-primary, post-secondary, vocational and non-formal education is also provided. There are at present about 1,400 fee-paying pre-primary schools providing education to about 35,000 children between the ages of three and five. Courses leading to a diploma or degree are provided by the University of Mauritius in agricultural, technical, vocational and science subjects as well as in humanities, law, administration and engineering. Teacher training is the responsibility of the Mauritius Institute of Education. S o m e secretarial, vocational and technical schools, like the Industrial Vocational Technical Board (IVTB), also offer courses to both students and workers. Finally, a few adult and literacy courses are organized by the government, municipalities and non-governmental organizations.

Figure 1 gives a clearer picture of the Mauritian education system.

1. Primary education

In June 1990, Mauritius had 278 primary schools attended by 131,200 students. Enrolment has n o w reached the level of universal education, with 98 per cent of primary school age children in schools (Master Plan, 1991, p.l; UNESCO Sources, February 1992, p. 18). 223 schools belong to the government; 46 are aided schools run by the R o m a n Catholic Authority and two by the Hindu Educational Authority; seven are non-aided schools. 101,200 students (77 per cent) went to government schools in June 1990 (Master Plan, 1991, p.25).

Since the country is multilingual, all children are taught English and French from the first grade. They also study mathematics and environmental science. These subjects are taught by general purpose teachers. About 70 per cent of students also study an Asian language, either Hindi, Urdu, Telegu, Marathi, Arabic or Mandarin and which is taught by a subject teacher known as an Asian language teacher.

4


Figure 1. Diagram of the formal education system in Mauritius

PRIMARY EDUCATION

1 - 2 К

HIGHER EDUCATION

MIE

x

CPE

SECONDARY EDUCATION

x I

CSC

1 - 2h 3 - 4 H 5

age 5+ age 11 +

6 - 7

1 - 2 -

UOM

x I

HSC

1 - 2

MGI

1 - 2 - 3

Technical Vocational

Key. C P E Certificate of Primary Education C S C Cambridge School Certificate H S C Higher School Certificate

Source: U N E S C O : Issues and strategies, 1991, p.4.

M G I Mahatma Gandhi Institute М Ш Mauritius Institute of Education U O M University of Mauritius

The teaching force in 1989 w a s as follows:

General purpose teachers: 3,845, of w h o m 3,021 (79 per cent) worked in government schools and 1,708 (44 per cent) were w o m e n .

Asian language teachers: 1,675, of w h o m 1,438 (80 per cent), were posted in government schools and 757 (45 per cent) were w o m e n .

T h e pupil/section ratio in all schools w a s 35:1, and 34:1 in government schools.

T h e pupil/teacher ratio for general purpose teachers was 34:1, and 22:1 for all teaching staff.

Promotion from one grade to another is automatic, and there are few drop-outs. There is, however, a very high rate of repetition at the end of the primary cycle mainly because m a n y successful C P E students repeat the grade in order to improve their chances of admission to an elitist secondary school. (It must be pointed out that the C P E serves the dual function of certification and selection).

5

Private tuition in Mauritius

Internal efficiency is discussed in greater detail in a subsequent chapter. At this stage, only the pass rate in the C P E for the past five years is given in Table 1.

Table 1. C P E results (1987-1991)

Year Number examined Number passed Percentage passed

Ï987 35 958 20 289 56\4

1988 33 702 20 354 60.4

1989 25 733 15 625 60.7

1990 29 494 18 118 61.4

1991 35 255 20 383 57.8

Source: Master Plan, 1991vp.l39.

A s seen in Table 1, the pass rates for a country like Mauritius with a relatively advanced education system and socio-economic situation are fairly low. N o in-depth research has been carried out on the exact causes of the high number of failures, but some of the reasons suggested by a U N E S C O report, {Issues and Strategies, 1991, p. 14) include the following:

"...excessive emphasis on passing the C P E , the difficulty of learning at least two and sometimes three non-mother tongue languages, the quality of teaching generally or lack of skills in teaching slow learners."

While there are not many infrastructural disparities in primary schools, outputs differ from school to school. Thus, one of the best performing schools m a y have a C P E success rate of 100 per cent (e.g. Basant Rai Government School), whereas in one of the low quality schools, it can be 6.49 per cent (Emmanuel Anquetil Government School) or 11.67 per cent (St Benoit R . C . A . ) {source: Mauritius Examinations Syndicate).

The inequalities in the performance of primary schools explain w h y some parents prefer to send their children to a distant good school rather than to a bad neighbouring school.

2o Secondary education

There are currently 124 secondary schools in Mauritius. O f these, 23 belong to the state, 13 are owned and operated by religious organizations, and the rest are commercially operated.

The total student population in 1990 was 75,450, of w h o m 15,827 (21 per cent) went to state schools (Courtney, 1991, p.l). The transition rate from primary to secondary school is about 75 per cent for the average cohort, which includes passes over two or even three years {Master Plan, 1991, p.32).

6


At one end, there is a very small number of excellent schools — usually state schools and a handful of confessional institutions — and, at the other, there are the 'bad' schools which are "notoriously under-equipped, offer inconsistent and generally w e a k teaching methods" (UNESCO Sources, February 1992, p.18). M o r e precisely, there are a "small number of institutions which are a real disgrace to the system" (Management Audit Bureau, N o v e m b e r 1989). The state schools thus have better learning conditions than the private schools, as can be seen from Table 2.

Table 2. Secondary schools in Mauritius: indicators in disparities

Private and Type of indicators State schools confessional

N u m b e r

Pupils

Teachers

Classes

Pupil/section ratio

Pupil/teacher ratio

Pedagogical administrative support staff/teacher ratio

Non-teaching staff/teacher ratio

Grade A teachers (i.e. graduates)

Grade В teachers (i.e. diplomats or teachers without H S C )

Grade С teachers (i.e. underqualified or unqualified)

Average teaching load (periods per day)

23 15 827 (21%)

1 007

484 32.7:1

15.7:1

1:2 3:4 575

432

- (0%)

4.5

101 59 223 (79%)

2 635

1 782

33.5:1

22.6:1

1:4 1.5:4 498

805

1 332 (50%)

5.5 (i.e. 75% of the formal (i.e. 90% of the norm) norm of 6 periods)

Per student expenditure in rupees1 7 806 4 656 Sources: Compüed from Master Plan, 1991; Courtney, 1991; UNESCO, 1991.

Other disparities relating to infrastructure, examination results and quality of learners also exist. Thus, some schools such as Queen Elizabeth College, Rose Hill; Royal College, Curepipe; Royal College, Port Louis; Loreto Convent, Quatre Bornes; and Collège St Esprit, Quatre Bornes, m a y have a School Certificate success rate of above 92 per cent, whereas in others, the rate m a y be as low as 0 per cent, as in Lycée Beau Bassin (Week-End, 16 February 1992, p.6).

T h e overall pass rates of S C and H S C for the past four years are given in Table 3.

1. N . B . Most expenditure in private schools, including staff salary, is covered by the government.

7


Table 3. School Certificate and Higher School Certificate results (1987-1990)

Year

1987

1988

1989

1990

Source:

Number examined

9 019

8 851

9 257

9 513

School Certificate

Master Plan, 1991,

Number passed

6 105

5 199

5 902

5 966

p. 140.

Percentage passed

67.7

58.7

63.8

62.7

Higher

Number examined

3 885

3 858

4 104

3 965

School Certificate

Number passed

2 157

2 028

2 236

2 226

Percentage passed

55.5

52.6

54.5

56.1

In view of all the above-mentioned disparities, it is not surprising that all parents want their children to attend one of the best secondary schools of the island.

3. Tertiary education

Tertiary education in Mauritius is provided by four institutions, namely the University of Mauritius, the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE), the Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) and the Mauritius College of the Air ( M C A ) . The M G I offers diploma and degree courses mostly in Asian languages and the M C A , which is mainly a resource development centre, has no students. The M I E , too, offers mostly in-service teacher training to primary and secondary school teachers, and pre-service training to primary school teachers.

For a variety of reasons, the University of Mauritius until recently was not well developed and offered a limited number of courses. However, the number of courses available has been extended and there are n o w diploma or degree courses in agricultural, vocational, technical and science subjects as well as in law, administration, humanities and engineering. Nevertheless, as the Master Plan (1991, p.42) points out: "Enrolment in tertiary education is low as compared with countries at a similar level of development". The result — and probably the cause as well — is that the majority of students prefer to study abroad, which makes it difficult to calculate the transition rate. Nevertheless, it is generally estimated that there were in any one year more than 2,000 students studying in foreign universities (Master Plan, 1991, p.42) out of a total school population of 200,000 (UNESCO Sources, 1992, p. 18). Passport office figures also suggest that about 800 Mauritians go abroad for studies every year ( U N E S C O , Issues and Strategies, 1991, p. 10). At the same time, the total enrolment in the university in 1990/91 was only 1,650 students, of w h o m 45 per cent were full-time students and 55 per cent followed part-time courses. The university student population for the past five years is shown in Table 4.

The university is n o w in a process of full expansion and is expected to accommodate 5,000 students by the turn of the century. But, owing to its present limited capacity, it could admit only 892 out of 3,900 qualified applicants during the last recruitment exercise. Academic performance was the most important criterion for admission.

8


Table 4 . Enrolment in the University of Mauritius (1986-1991)

Year

1986-1987

1988-1989

1990-1991

Total enrolment

643 1 325

1 650 Source: Master Plan, 1991, p.148.

Year

1987-1988

1989-1990

Total enrolment

878 1 487

G o o d results in secondary school examinations, as a m e a n s of obtaining a place in a university locally or abroad, thus b e c o m e the goal of every student; hence the race for a place in a school w h i c h has a reputation for academic success.

4. Entering the race to the best secondary schools

T h e m o s t crucial stage in the life of the Mauritian student is probably the transition from primary to secondary. This is because s o m e of the secondary schools are regarded as being g o o d and a few as being 'five-star' schools. Admiss ion to these schools is governed b y the results of the C P E : the first 2 , 0 0 0 (out of 3 5 , 2 5 5 candidates in 1991) in order of passing can choose to g o to the best schools. T h e C P E examination, as already indicated, serves not only as an achievement test for certification, but also as a selection device for regulating access of pupils to secondary schools w h i c h vary considerably in quality.

T h e race to the secondary schools of prestige, in fact, starts before the child is even five years old w h e n the greatest concern of m o s t parents is to gain admission for their child in one of the best primary schools. Al though the m o s t important criterion for access to such schools is residence in the catchment area, s o m e influential families often m a n a g e to have their child admitted to a school of their choice, even if the institution is far from their h o m e .

T h e best primary schools are those that excel in outstanding C P E results and those that succeed in placing their pupils in the 'five-star' secondary schools. T h e following excerpt from a local newspaper s h o w s to w h a t extent excellent C P E results can contribute in giving prestige to a school:

" L a Baichoo M a d h o o Government School de Quatre Bornes, qui, depuis ces dernières années, fait beaucoup parler d'elle au m o m e n t des résultats, s'est encore une fois, surclassée en plaçant neuf de ses éléments dans les trente premiers reçus des deux sexes. Parmi les autres établissements dont les élèves se sont bien classés, notons Villiers René Government School, Notre D a m e des Victoires R . C . A . ; Emilienne Rochecoute Government School et P . C . Kistoe Aryan Vedic (chez les garçons) et H u g h Otter Barry Government School, Beau Séjour Government et Philippe Rivalland R . C . A . (chez les filles)." Week-End, 15 December 199L2

2. The Baichoo Madhoo Government School, which has been the centre of recent attention, has once more excelled by having nine of its students ranked among the first 30 successful candidates of both sexes. A m o n g the other institutions whose students have had good ranks, are Villiers René Government School, Notre D a m e des Victores R . C . A . , Emilienne Rochecoute Government School and P . C . Kistoe Aryan Vedic (among the boys), and Hugh Otter Barry Government School, Beau Séjour Government School and Philippe Rivalland R . C . A . (among the girls).

9


5. Examinations a n d competition

Once a luxury, education has n o w become a necessity among Mauritians. The population, to a large extent, literate (80 per cent, according to UNESCO Sources, February, 1992, p. 18) knows the importance of education and has c o m e to regard academic achievement as synonymous with success in life and the only route to economic and social status. For this reason, Mauritians have become very competitive. It must be pointed out that competition has a tradition of more than one hundred years and started under British rule with the British Junior Scholarship Examination. This test was taken at the end of the primary cycle and gave access to the only two state secondary schools, which were also the best. At that time, it involved mostly the upper social stratum.

Today, however, it is the aim of all parents to see to it that their children go to a prestigious secondary school so that they can pass the two external examinations, the C S C and H S C , with flying colours. These two examinations are increasingly being used as the most important criteria for employment not only in the public service, but also in the private and industrial sectors. Beyond that, good examination results allow students to have access to training and to tertiary education or even to compete for one of the m a n y scholarships to foreign universities. For all these reasons, excessive concern with academic results has become a major national problem, and children are under intense pressure from their earliest school days to do well in examinations.

That examinations have become a national preoccupation can be seen during the days preceding and following the publication of C P E and H S C results when a hectic fever seizes most of the population and the results are given exaggerated attention in the media. Laureates3 at both levels, as well as their parents, teachers and heads of schools in a few cases, are interviewed and receptions are offered. The unnecessary fuss over examination results is appropriately brought out in this newspaper article:

"It would be difficult to see another commotion like the one that precedes the C P E examination. And the way the tension is maintained during and after what many of us have managed to transform into an ordeal borders on sadism. W e are all accomplices and the victims are the innocent kids who are unnecessarily tortured for months before, during and after the C P E examinations." Le Mauricien, 15 December 1989.

But perhaps the most important reason for the race to the elite schools lies in the difficulties of obtaining access to an excellent secondary institution. While it is a matter of pride that Mauritius can afford, in one of its 125 secondary schools, a place to almost every secondary school student w h o is eligible, its secondary system is highly compartmentalized and selective. This is because while the population has increased and the primary system has seen a significant expansion, the secondary sector, as far as good schools are concerned, has failed to expand in the same proportion. Such a situation is conceded by the Minister of Education w h o said recently in an interview:

3. The best students w h o win scholarships.

10


"Je dois également admettre qu'il y a un réel problème d'admission dans les collèges après les examens du C P E , malgré le fait que nous avons amélioré le système. Avant, il n'y avait que 200 places dans les collèges. Aujourd'hui, le nombre est passé à 4.000."

Week-End, 12 janvier, 1992.A

Thus, only a small number of state and confessional schools enjoy a high reputation. A s pointed out above, the non-governmental schools generally have fewer qualified teachers, a higher pupil-teacher ratio and lack even the proper infrastructure and equipment. It is not surprising, therefore, that five or six state secondary schools and two or three confessional schools, despite occasional ups and downs in their academic performances, continue to attract the best students, as the C P E placement exercises for the last two years testify (see Tables 5 and 6).

The two tables show a remarkable degree of consistency as to the schools which can be classified 'five-star'. It appears that the very first-ranked boys and girls in the C P E in both examinations went to the Royal College, Curepipe and the Queen Elizabeth College, Rose Hill respectively. The thirteenth-ranked girl in the 1990 C P E and the sixteenth-ranked girl in the 1991 C P E were admitted to Lore to Convent, Quatre Bornes, while the fifth-ranked boy in December 1990 and the sixth-ranked boy in December 1991 joined the Royal College, Port Louis. Finally, the sixteenth-ranked boy in both examinations decided to go to Collège St Esprit, Quatre Bornes. These institutions are considered as the best in the island.

There also appears to be a high correlation between the quality of intake in the schools and the number of laureates (that is, the best H S C students w h o win one of the 18 scholarships awarded to British universities) produced, as shown in Table 7.

In other words, although the number of laureates m a y vary from year to year, in 1991 the five schools that had the best intake at the beginning of the secondary cycle also obtained the highest number of laureates, i.e. 15 out of 18, at the end of the cycle. It is interesting to note that these five secondary schools have been performing more or less consistently. Indeed, Figure 2 shows that they have been the top schools over recent years and can rightly be called 'five-star' schools.

4 . 1 must also admit that there is a real problem of access to good secondary schools, in spite of the fact that the number of schools has risen from 200 to 4,000.

11


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Table 7. N u m b e r of laureates per school (1991)

Number of Number of School laureates School laureates

Boys Girls

Royal College, Port Louis 5 Queen Elizabeth College, Rose Hill 5

Royal College, Curepipe 2 Loreto Convent, Quatre Bornes 2

Collège St Esprit, Quatre Bornes 1

Total 8 Total 7

T h e reputation of a school thus largely depends on the quality of its academic results. T h e following newspaper article reinforces the relationship between good results and reputation:

"Lauréats 1991: Le Collège Royal de Port-Louis (côté garçons) et le Queen Elizabeth College (côté filles) se sont taillé la part du lion lors de Г attribution des bourses d'Etat pour l'année scolaire 1991 officialisées lundi. E n effet, ces deux établissements d'Etat se sont équitablement partagé dix des dix-huit bourses en concours. Le Collège Dr Maurice Curé, le Couvent de Lorette de Quatre-B ornes (chez les filles) et le Collège Royal de Curepipe (côté garçons) ont, quant à eux, récolté, chacun, deux bourses."

Week-End, 16 février 1992?

Table 6 also demonstrates that 17 of the schools still had a number of vacancies at the time of admission. The conclusion that can be drawn is that these institutions are not in high demand and they cannot attract even students w h o are placed at the bottom of the C P E list. Another implication shown by Tables 5 and 6 is that out of about 125 secondary schools in the island, only the listed 55 schools attract students ranked in the C P E , which means that more than half of the secondary institutions of the country are considered by parents as being either 'average' or 'low performing'. M o r e important is the fact that only eight boys' and six girls' schools — again evident in the two tables — share the best 1,000 students and the others have to content themselves with the remainder.

T o gain admission in one of the prestigious secondary schools is thus the aim of every primary school student. Every possible effort is m a d e to achieve this end, one of which is private tuition.

5. 1991 laureates: Royal College, Port Louis (boys) and Queen Elizabeth College, Rose Hill, (girls) won the lion's share of the number of state scholarships for 1991 published on Monday. Indeed, these two state institutions shared between themselves ten of the eighteen scholarships. Dr. Maurice Curé School, Vacoas; Loreto Convent, Quatre Bornes (among girls), and Royal College, Curepipe each w o n two scholarships.

15

Chapter III

Private tuition: the first s y m p t o m of the race to the 'five-star' secondary schools

A heavy emphasis on examinations often leads to a situation where students are required to seek outside help. This is true in the Mauritian case where "private tuition has become so widespread, involving about 80 per cent of the standard V I pupils that it is accepted as an integral feature of the primary system" ( U N E S C O , Issues and Strategies, June 1991). Others refer to it as the tuition 'industry' because there is both a demand (almost all students, afraid of being overtaken by their peers, flock in large numbers to attend such classes) and a supply (a large number of teachers are always ready to provide tuition).

For the purpose of this discussion, private tuition will be defined as "learning activities for the clientele of the formal school which take place outside the regular school instruction programme for a fee or as a community service" (Marimuthu et al., 1991, p.l).

1. Specificities of private tuition in Mauritius, c o m p a r e d with other countries

It must be pointed out at the outset that the tuition phenomenon in Mauritius is not unique and that in several countries the practice is very c o m m o n (ibid., p.VI). Indeed, research indicates that it has reached endemic proportions in several countries such as Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Jamaica, South Korea, Japan, Kenya, Sudan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. In Malaysia, for example, it is described as a "shadow educational system" and as the "tuition machine" (ibid., pp.8 & 10). In Japan, 86 per cent of Grade 9 children acknowledge having attended at some time the 'juku', a term that loosely covers "all extracurricular lessons devoted to academic subjects" (White, 1987, p.77). In Korea, too, it is believed that 50 per cent of students in metropolitan academic high schools were having private tutoring (Marimuthu et al., 1991, p.6), whereas in Thailand, a National Education Commission survey in 1983 suggested that 65 per cent of both high school and college freshmen had received some form of tutoring (ibid., p.8). Finally, in Sri Lanka, a study showed that an average of 74.5 per cent of secondary school students participated in private tutoring classes (Silva et al., 1991, p. 101).

In Mauritius, a study revealed that at the primary level, 11 per cent of children in Standard I took tuition, the proportion rising to 73 per cent in Standard VI . At the secondary level, the percentage of students w h o were tutored rose from 37 per cent in Form I to 88 per cent in Forms V and V I (Joynathsing et al., 1988, pp.4-5). Latest trends indicate that these proportions m a y have greatly increased. For example, a survey carried out by Form V I students of Droopnath Ramphul State Secondary School for their school magazine showed that in their institution — an above average school where students from all walks of life and regions are represented — 100 per cent of Forms V and Upper V I students took tuition (D.R.S.S. Magazine, 1991, p.63). Even if w e admit that the study m a y have been carried out

16

Private tuition: the first symptom of the race to the 'five-star secondary schools

in an amateurish w a y , there is no reason to believe that total participation in private tuition was less than 90 per cent.

It must also be said that in m a n y countries, as in Mauritius, private tuition seems to flourish most at certain pressure points. In Sri Lanka, these points are Grade V , when children of 10 and 11 are called to take the scholarship examination, and the Forms V and V I , w h e n students have to take the ' O ' and ' A ' level examinations. Passing the scholarship examination indeed allows children to join a 'famous' and good school and entitles them to an allowance towards board, lodging and other expenses, if parental income is within certain specified limits; success at the ' O ' and ' A ' levels determines placement into the very restricted streams. In Thailand, too, the "greatest points are getting into one of the country's prestigious high schools and then into one of the 12 admission-restricted public universities" (Marimuthu et al., 1991, p.8).

In m a n y respects, however, the tutoring situation in Mauritius is unique. While out-of-school coaching in Sri Lanka and Malaysia seems to focus almost entirely at the secondary level upon entry to the university, tuition in Mauritius often starts (unofficially) from Standard I and (officially) from Standard П1. In Japan, too, pre-school children are tutored, but 'okeikogoto' classes are 'enrichment lessons' where the small children "take lessons like swimming, piano or English, as opposed to 'juku' (supplementary help in academic subjects) which is often taken exclusively by elementary and secondary school students" (White, 1987, p.77).

Moreover, it seems that in m a n y African and Asian countries, tutoring is accentuated because teachers are often underpaid and have to give tuition in order to survive. In Mauritius, however, teachers earn a reasonable salary, and 30 to 40 per cent of general purpose teachers ( U N E S C O , Issues and Strategies, 1991, p. 14), as well as teachers of Asian languages, do content themselves with their regular pay. At the primary level, their salary is more or less on par with workers of the same category and of the same qualifications, such as nurses, policemen and clerical officers. At the secondary level, graduate teachers earn more or less the same amount as graduates in other ministries, such as economists or agronomists. The desire to give tuition therefore seems to have deeper motives and lies perhaps in the fact that Mauritius has become a capitalist and consumer society. The more m o n e y one makes, the more m o n e y one wants to m a k e in a society where working overtime or in other activities for an additional fee is always m u c h sought after. (The best examples are working as field officers, enumerators or poll-officers in population censi, or in occasional surveys and in general elections). Tutoring (or other private practices) thus becomes a vicious cycle that cannot be stopped because once teachers become accustomed to a second pay, it is very difficult for them to forego that additional income.

Furthermore, in most countries, students are not tutored by the same classroom teachers. In Sri Lanka, a study revealed that "students mostly obtain tuition from teachers, w h o are not from their o w n schools" (Silva et al., 1991, p.297). In Mauritius, however, "private tuition at the primary level is predominantly given by school teachers to their regular pupils after school hours (Joynathsing et al., 1988, p.37) and the proportion of teachers providing tuition to their regular students is 78 per cent of the total number of teachers involved {ibid., p.4).

17


Another unique feature of tutoring in Mauritius is that more than half of the entire general purpose teaching force is involved in tuition. A U N E S C O report described this disturbing situation in these words:

"With an estimated 60 to 70 per cent of primary teachers giving tuition, this extra-curricular activity has by now become such an integral part of the primary education, in the same way as classroom teaching and learning, that one conditions the other, and one cannot function without the other. The teacher controls the action parameters in this system which has almost become a parallel system."

UNESCO, Issues and Strategies, 1991, p. 14

Finally, in Japan, the Teacher's Union, which has a great influence on both classroom practice and ministry-established curriculum, fights any attempt to change the "ordinary egalitarian school into an agent of meritocratic selection" (White, 1987, p.78). The 'juku' which takes place outside the school thus contributes in making school a place of harmony, rather than one of unhealthy competition. In Mauritius, however, the unions are almost silent on the subject of tuition which serves the interests of its members and which above all intensifies the competitive atmosphere of the classroom.

2 . Causes of private tuition

A s the above discussion shows, the principal causes of private tuition are a m a d race on the part of primary school students to join a prestigious secondary school and a desire on the part of teachers to earn an additional income. Nevertheless, there are probably also other causes at the basis of private tuition, such as teacher dedication and teacher reputation.

2.1 Teacher dedication

The pressure to excel in examinations, which accentuates student or parent demand for private tuition, is not the only cause of tutoring. Indeed, it seems that there is also a very strong supply side to the issue. While there is no doubt that m a n y teachers give private tuition solely for financial reasons, teacher's dedication to good results and desire for status are equally important factors. In fact, some teachers, especially at the primary level, have such a high sense of professionalism and of teaching ethics that they not only share the anxieties and worries of their students at every m o m e n t , but also offer extra classes on a purely voluntary basis to all their students either before or after school hours. Moreover, to motivate or force students to work hard and eventually to perform well in examinations, teachers use every possible means, including rewards for success or corporal punishment for failure.

2.2 Teacher reputation

The reputation of teachers very often rests on the academic results they are able to give to the public. Indeed, if the performance of students in examinations is poor, they will be considered as mediocre, but if they produce excellent results, they become 'laureate makers' in the eyes of the public. In other words, it is students' results which can either destroy them or establish their reputation as teachers. In this respect, private tuition for this type of teacher is not a means of earning additional money , but is viewed as a logical step

18


in improving the teaching-learning climate in the whole process of building up a public image.

3. Modalities of private tuition

Tutoring can take different forms, and the size of the classes can differ from country to country. If it is home-based, the class is usually conducted individually or in small groups. But if it is a tuition-centre, the class m a y range from 20-30 per class to even 60 in some cases (Marimuthu et al., 1991, р.13). In Sri Lanka, a researcher of private tuition saw a class where about 25 to 35 boys and girls were crowding round the table; some were even standing. Other classes were organized in groups of 60 or 70 and were conducted in "their best homes, on the back verandah, the garage, a large room in the house or a shed specially constructed for this purpose" (Pararajasingham, 1980, p.37). In Japan, 'jukus' range "from small classes of two to three students meeting in the h o m e of a teacher to large schools with dozens of classes, hundreds of students and branches all over the country" (White, 1987, p.77).

In Mauritius, it seems that at the secondary level in urban areas, groups are coached in small numbers of five to 15 in the tutor's h o m e , but in rural areas, students are taught in special rooms or in rented buildings in groups ranging from 20 to 40 students. At the primary level, since 78 per cent of children take tuition from their o w n teachers mostly on school premises, the proportion of children in large tuition groups is quite high. It is reported that 57.9 per cent attended classes of 25 and over and 29.7 per cent took tuition in groups of 35 and over. Small tuition groups are almost non-existent. Only 3.5 per cent of children participated in groups of less than five pupils and only 18.2 per cent attended groups of less than 15 (Joynathsing et al., 1988, pp.38-39).

Private tuition is seen in m a n y countries as a parallel system, and it is significant therefore that it occupies a fairly large amount of students' time. In Malaysia, "more than 80 per cent spend over four hours per week at tuition and possibly one to three hours travelling to and from tuition. In fact, nearly half the students report spending more than six hours per week on tuition" (Marimuthu et al., 1991, p.70). In Sri Lanka, an ' O ' level student spent an average of 11.38 hours per week on tuition, whereas in the case of an ' A ' level student, the average time was 13.24 hours per week, without counting actual travelling time (Pararajasingham, 1980, p.57). The situation in Mauritius is not different since the average hours per week spent on tuition by primary students stood at 5.7 and by secondary pupils at 5 (Joynathsing et al., 1988, pp.39 & 6).

Since such a considerable amount of students' time is devoted to studies (regular school hours, private tuition and homework), it is not surprising that children have very little time, if any, for leisure and extra-curricular activities, such as sports, radio or television, or for non-examination subjects, such as art and music.

4 . Reaction to private tuition

In spite of its notorious nature and all the adverse publicity which private tuition receives in the media and elsewhere, it is surprising h o w most people more or less approve of it. In Japan, for instance, parents are not happy about sending their children to 'juku' classes, but they k n o w also that without that stimulus, their children m a y lose in the race.

19


In an elucidating article on Japan's High Schools, Rohlen (1983, p. 106) stated: "With popular interest high, parents cannot ignore the cram school phenomenon, for it could m e a n the difference between success or failure."

In Malaysia, too, students see tuition as "relevant and unavoidable in some cases" (Marimuthu et al., 1991, p.88), and 54 per cent of parents even consider tuition as "necessary" (ibid., p.91). In Sri Lanka, both parents and children "tolerated" private tutoring (Silva et al., 1991, p.302) because of the benefits of high scores in examinations. Paradoxically, it was teachers w h o viewed tutoring as negative because if tutoring flourished, their presence would no longer be needed. In Mauritius, too, it seems that in spite of all the harm that can be inflicted on children, 75 per cent of parents questioned approved of private tuition; only one in six thought that it should be discouraged (Joynathsing et al., 1988, p.6).

5 . Relationship between private tuition a n d socio-economic status

If the tacit approval of parents to private tutoring can be frightening, equally preoccupying is the fact that there is a clear relationship between private tutoring and the socio-economic situation of students, especially in developing countries. In Korea, "43 per cent of primary school students of parents earning US$1 ,000 or more per month received private tuition, whereas only 8.5 per cent of the students of parents earning below U S $ 4 0 0 did so" (Marimuthu et al., 1991, p.6). In Sri Lanka also, "85 per cent of children of professionals and high-level administrators received private tuition, whereas only 35 per cent of children of lower socio-economic status did so (ibid., p.7). In Malaysia, too, although most parents had no difficulties in paying fees, 23.5 per cent stated that they did have problems in paying (ibid., p. 184).

The Malaysian case, however, is interesting in another w a y . Poor students report taking tuition m a d e available by P T A s in large groups, whereas rich students say that they take individualized and commercially organized tuition. Thus, while tuition in most countries divides society into those w h o can pay and those w h o cannot, in Malaysia those w h o can pay are divided into two subgroups: those w h o can pay for individualized coaching and those w h o must accept large group tutoring. "There emerges thus a two-tiered quality of tuition, one high quality tuition for the rich, urban and high socio-economic status and the other poorer quality tuition for the rest" (ibid., p.68).

The picture in Mauritius is no less gloomy since children from wealthy families tend to take more tuition than students from poor families. The strength of the relationship between socio-economic status of parents and the incidence of private tuition is appropriately brought out in the following comment :

"Just as the proportion of children taking private tuition increases with the grade, so in general it also increases with the level of household income. In families with incomes of less than Rs. 1,000, some 30 per cent of the primary schoolchildren take private tuition; in families with household incomes of Rs.3,000 — under Rs.4,000, the proportion was 60 per cent, and in families with incomes of Rs.4,000 and over, the proportion was 54 per cent" Joynathsing et al, 1988, p.32.

20


T h e relationship between the socio-economic situation and tutoring is further intensified by the p h e n o m e n o n of 'double tuition'. In other words, a minority of well-off parents often have their children tutored by two different teachers in the same subject. In this w a y , they want to give their children the best chance to excel in examinations.

There is thus s o m e correlation between household income levels and incidence of pupils taking tuition. T h e relative gap, however, becomes even wider in the lowest standards:

"In Standard I, the proportion of children taking tuition in the highest income group was 7.5 times as great as the proportion of children in the lowest income groups; whereas the equivalent proportion in Standard VI was 1.6:1." ibid., p.33.

Surprisingly, a similar p h e n o m e n o n exists in Malaysia where "the higher the socio-economic status, the earlier their respondents start tuition" (Marimuthu et al., 1991, p.46). It emerges from these two situations that pressure during the examination year is so intense that poor parents m a k e special efforts to send their children to tuition classes, whereas rich parents can afford to have their offspring tutored from the very first standard.

T h e above analysis shows that while private tuition is a widespread p h e n o m e n o n in developing countries, it has several unique features in Mauritius. But tutoring is not the only manifestation of the race for a place in a prestigious secondary school of the island; repetition in the last grade of primary schools is an equally alarming anomaly, as will be discussed in the next chapter.

21

Chapter IV


A second specificity resulting from the functioning of the Mauritian education system is the high repetition at the end of Standard V I , as shown in Table 8.

Table 8. Internal efficiency rates of primary schools (1986-1989 average)

Promotion rate

Repetition rate

Drop-out rate

Source: Courtney,

Standard I

99.7

0.0

0.3

1991, p.3.

Standard П

99.8

0.0

0.2

Standard III

99.6

0.0

0.4

Standard IV

99.2

0.0

0.8

Standard V

98.8

0.0

1.2

Standard VI

48.0

49.7

2.3

Standard VI

(repeaters)

53.0

47.0

The table reveals that there is automatic promotion from Standard I to Standard V I and that drop-out is very limited. Consequently, under the present conditions of functioning of the educational system, out of a cohort of 1,000 w h o join Standard I, 991 reach Standard IV, 983 join Standard V and 971 enter Standard V I . The figures show that from Standard I to Standard V , the internal efficiency of primary schools is very high. This is a very positive sign because it clearly indicates that primary education is fulfilling its aims of promoting literacy, since "the completion of four grades of primary education is considered a pre-requisite for children to become literate" ( U N E S C O Office of Statistics, 1990, p. 10), provided that children acquire the basic learning competencies. Moreover, the rates are m u c h higher than those of Sub-Saharan Africa and close to those of developed countries, as is apparent from Table 9.

At the same time, however, because of the policy of automatic promotion in the first five grades, repetition takes place only at the end of the primary cycle, and the rate of 49.7 per cent is especially high for a country like Mauritius. (It must be pointed out that repetitions in F o r m V and F o r m V I , too, are fairly high). Indeed, while the internal efficiency in the first four grades in Mauritius is like that of developed countries, the repetition rate at the end of the cycle is similar to what happens in several African countries. In Burundi, for example, the rate of repetition in the last grade of primary schools is 51.4 per cent (Schwüle, 1991, p.6). In fact, it seems that in Latin America and in Europe, repetition tends to be lower

22


towards the end of primary school than at the beginning ( U N E S C O , 1984, pp.347-367), but in Africa, it is the very opposite.

Table 9. Apparent survival rates (1986)

Developing countries • Sub-Saharan Africa

• Arab States

• Latin America & the Carribean

• Eastern Asia

e Southern Asia

Developed countries

Initial year

1975 1986

1975 1986

1975 1986

1975 1986

1975 1986

1975 1986

Percentage of

1

100 100

100 100

100 100

100 100

100 100

100 100

Source: Unesco: World statistical indicators, Office of Statistics,

2

79 79

94 99

65 70

82 87

70 69

97 98

1990, p

cohort reaching grade

.11.

3

72 72

88 95

56 61

77 83

60 65

96 97

4

64 66

88 93

49 55

71 78

50 59

96 97

The most important reason behind this phenomenon is the fact that several African countries, including Mauritius, have a system of automatic promotion which gradually causes a bottleneck at the end of the primary cycle. Furthermore, the examinations taken at the end of the cycle are mostly for selection purposes and, because access to secondary schools in these countries remains limited, success rates at these examinations are low.

However, in the case of Mauritius, another factor plays an important role which is once again the race for the 'five-star' schools. Indeed, of those w h o pass, m a n y prefer to repeat Grade V I and to take the examination a second time in order to gain access to one of the better secondary institutions. A fair number of the repeaters (estimated at 20 per cent) are scholastically capable children w h o m a y have scored excellent grades in all the four examinable subjects (English, French, mathematics and environmental studies), but they have failed to secure a place in a good school. In other words, these students are well-motivated and are held back not because they cannot perform well at the secondary level, but because the best secondary schools do not have enough places for all the bright students.

23


In terms of figures and, according to the promotion and repetition rates given in Table 8, out of the 971 pupils w h o enter Standard V I , 466 (48.0 per cent) join F o r m I, while 49.7 per cent or 483 pupils repeat Standard V I . O f these repeaters, 256 (53 per cent) join F o r m I a year later. There is, therefore, a transition rate of about 75 per cent ( U N E S C O , Issues and Strategies, 1991, p.5).

A n interesting question to ask is to what extent this type of repetition has positive effects on the achievement scores of the learners. Lack of research in this area does not allow us to give a clear answer, especially since it is not k n o w n h o w m a n y repeaters actually improve their C P E rank or h o w m a n y do even worse. Literature on this topic, too, reflects conflicting opinions. For example, studies from North America and Europe suggest that repetition has limited beneficial effects on learners, hardly improves the performance of slow learners and, by stressing repeaters' low achievements, does a lot of harm to their prospects for future success. O n the other hand, proponents of repetition argue that it is profitable because it helps slow learners as well as those pupils w h o suffer from emotional and intellectual immaturity at the time of entering school. The nature and effects of repetition probably vary from country to country and also from grade to grade. Data on rural sixth graders in Burundi, which in m a n y ways resembles the Mauritian case, show that repeaters in the last grade of primary school have learned substantially more than non-repeaters (Schwüle et al., 1991, p.2). Could w e assume that repetition in the last grade in Mauritius, too, m a y have some positive effects on the learning achievements of students?

Research on the consequences of repetition on the morale and motivation of students in Mauritius is rather sketchy, but one can imagine that the heavy selection function of the C P E examinations can have negative effects. Indeed, repetition is mostly parent-driven, and the child, w h o m a y have missed a place in a good school by only a few marks, has no choice but to repeat the grade. In class, if it is a large school, he/she m a y be in a separate 'repeaters' class. If, however, it is a small school, most of his/her peers are in Standard V I for the first time. In the latter case, the repeaters are older than their class-mates. In both cases, because they did not live up to the expectations of their teachers and parents, they are often demoralized and m a y even develop an inferiority complex. They have to undergo the high demands of the system for one more year. Fear of failure at this particular point of their life is accentuated, for if they do not m a k e it this time, the fall will be limitless. It is worth pointing out that a girl of Queen Elizabeth College committed suicide in the late 80s simply because although her School Certificate results were good, they fell short of the expectations of her parents. O f great concern is the fact that for every repeater w h o is able to m a k e it, there are a number of students w h o are "labelled 'failure' and w h o fall by the wayside without m u c h hope of redemption. They have no option but to pick up the less favoured schools" (Silva et al., 1991, p.305).

It is also possible that such children w h o derive little or no pleasure from academic studies m a y start hating school, which is seen as a place for punishment rather than for preparation of life.

Whatever effects repetition at the end of the primary cycle m a y have on the motivation, morale and achievement of learners, one major consequence is the negative impact it has on the overall efficiency of the system and on the social and private costs of education. These will be analysed in the next chapter.

24

Chapter V

Overall implications

Introduction

The race to the 'five-star' schools has implications for the education system as a whole. These implications are discussed below.

1. Distortion of the a ims of education

Private tuition has indeed produced a parallel system, with the result that the education system has been thrown out of gear. Most people will agree that the two main functions of basic education are to inculcate knowledge and skills (the learning function) and to instil other socially relevant attitudes and values, including altruism and generosity (the socialization function). Unfortunately, in Mauritius the selection function, which has become the raison-d'être of C P E examinations, takes so m u c h importance that the two major purposes of primary education are destroyed. W e a k pupils are thus neglected and cannot keep up with the teaching-learning process because the classes prepare the high flyers for entrance to the elite schools. The emphasis is on specific examination skills so that non-examinable subjects are given only a nominal presence in the actual teaching. In this w a y , the learning function is reduced, leading to a narrow perception of what can and should be learned. Skills such as creativity are stifled, and time that should have been devoted to sports, television, casual reading and other extra-curricular activities is given to academic studies. Feelings of selfishness, too, both among students and parents, inevitably surface in this world where only the fittest survive.

The distortion of the system is implicitly confirmed in the Master Plan of Education which has this to say on examinations at the secondary level: "In m a n y colleges, the purpose of the system appears to be to get pupils to pass the School Certificate and, to a lesser extent, the Higher School Certificate. Other purposes — such as providing the basis for training, encouraging different aptitudes and completing the students' grounding in basic education — appear to be accorded less weight" (Master Plan, 1991, p.34). A similar view was echoed by the Rector of Royal College, Port Louis (a 'five-star' school) w h o said:

"Unfortunately today the race for admission to Royal College and the race for scholarships are finally giving undue importance to the acquisition of knowledge solely. W e are aware that this kind of education will not provide us with the leaders of tomorrow."

Week-End, 22 March 1992.

25


2. Effects o n the development of the child

Furthermore, the relentless race can often be traumatic and can harm the intellectual, social, emotional and physical development of children w h o find themselves spending an average of nine hours every day preparing for the examination through private tuition and regular schooling. "This mismatching is taking place in an age of a seven-hour working day for adults" (Ramdoyal et al., 1990, p.27). In other words, at a time when workers are fighting for a 40-hour week, children are made to work for longer hours than their parents. Such hard work, indeed, causes a lot of strain on their abilities which leads to undesirable effects of mental stress and fatigue. This situation is highlighted by the Minister of Education w h o said:

"...Nous, les adultes, avons besoin d'un temps de récupération et de repos après des efforts physiques et cérébraux fournis plusieurs heures durant. Avons-nous le droit d'imposer un rythme infernal de travail cérébral — cours scolaires et leçons particulières — à des enfants en âge d'adolescence ?" Week-End, 12 janvier 1992, p.5.6

3. Socio-economic inequalities

Moreover, as discussed earlier, the race accentuates the socio-economic inequalities among students, since not all children can afford tuition fees. The old adage 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' has never been more true than in the Mauritian context, for the government in 1977 made secondary education free in order to reduce social inequalities in education, but at the same time the fees of private tuition went up dramatically, eroding all the benefits that free eduction could have brought to poor families. The success of a pupil thus continued to depend on wealth and social rank.

The inequity of the system is effectively brought out in the Government White Paper (1984, p.7):

"Since the prospects for secondary schooling leading to School Certificate depends on the results of the C P E examination, there is strong competitive pressure in the primary schools. Thus, some children even in the lowest standards take private tuition. Competitive pressures work against two groups of children — those whose families are too poor for private tuition, and the slow learners w h o are considered by their teachers to have little chance in the C P E and w h o are therefore neglected..."

4 . Devaluation of teaching ethics

Although m a n y parents often complain that a few teachers exploit their children by charging a lot of money for tuition, a more disturbing fact is the allegation that in some countries, pupils are forced to take tuition. The case of Kenya, where teachers flout government policies by forcing students to take tuition, is disquieting:

6. W e , adults, need some time to recover and to rest after w e have m a d e physical and mental efforts for several hours. D o w e have the right to impose an infernal cycle of mental work — classes in school and private tuition — on growing children?

26

Overall implications

" A survey carried out last year by 'The Academy' revealed that forced extra-tuition, which was formerly voluntary, was gradually being incorporated into the timetable of most schools in the city. Those parents whose children attend such schools were required to pay for the mandatory extra tuition. Those who failed to do that are usually advised to remove their children from the school." The Standard, 18 January 1992, p.15.

Another cause of concern in some countries is that some teachers, especially at the secondary level, give more attention to their lucrative practices than to regular teaching. In Kenya, for example: "some parents...said that some teachers had deliberately neglected their normal teaching duties in favour of extra coaching" {ibidem).

D o such malpractices exist in Mauritius too? There have indeed been some allegations that students in primary schools are compelled to take private tuition or have to face the consequences of sitting in the last row, and that some teachers in secondary schools correct tuition exercise books in class or again that a handful of teachers, especially at the secondary level, deliberately 'save their breath, their energy and their shots' for the after-school hours. Such accusations have indeed been voiced ever since the beginning of private tutoring, and are mentioned in an Education Report in these terms "Complaints have been m a d e to m e that little real work is done at the Royal College, for both teachers and pupils save their main effort for the evening's private coaching" (Ward, 1941, p.39). In this connection, it is perhaps not out of place to mention an argument against the tuition practice brought out by the same Report as far back as 1941: "I consider it impossible for a teacher to be efficient at his work if he is doing two extra hours teaching every night from M o n d a y to Friday" (Ward, 1941, p.39). Whether the above allegations are true or not, one thing is clear: teachers w h o behave in that w a y are most unprofessional and there is a devaluation of teacher ethics.

5 . Cost implications

B y increasing the average number of years that students take to complete primary school, the race to the elite schools becomes very expensive not only to pupils and parents w h o have to pay the cost of an extra year of schooling in terms of time, private tuition, uniforms, stationery, pocket money and textbooks, but also to the government which has to invest additional resources, in terms of classrooms, free textbooks, and teaching and non-teaching staff. There is also opportunity cost involved because repeaters take one more year to complete their studies.

In the Mauritian case, of the 50 per cent w h o repeat, about one-fifth are estimated to be successful candidates w h o repeat the class to improve their chances of access to a good secondary school (Courtney, 1991). Because of last-grade repetition, the number of student years per C P E graduate rises to 8.8 years, instead of the ideal of 6 years, if there was no repetition at all. The internal efficiency index is 1.46 and indicates that 46 per cent additional resources must be spent to obtain a C P E success. In terms of resources, therefore, there is a considerable amount of wastage {ibid., p.4). It is thus clear that the Mauritian system is not cost-effective at all because it is clearly said that an "efficient system is one in which all or most children m o v e through in the expected time" (MacDonald, 1990, p.2).

27


6. External efficiency

Cramming for examination purposes in turn leads to low external efficiency. Indeed, by concentrating only on examinations, students acquire a largely bookish and academic education. The result is that most school leavers are not prepared for the reality of employment and even of training for employment. Because of this lack of articulation between schools and the labour market,

"the unevenness of the quality of the school outputs produces large numbers of only nominally qualified school leavers who are, in fact, under-prepared for the labour market. In the long run, this is a human capital loss to the nation..."

UNESCO, Issues and Strategies, 1991, p.VII.

The above repercussions which are caused by competition for a place in a 'five-star' secondary school can become very serious unless corrective measures are applied. S o m e of these measures are discussed in the next chapter.

28

Chapter VI

Strategies

Before the strategies are discussed, however, it is important to point out that powerful and vested interests are involved in the cutthroat competition and in private tuition. This observation is forcefully brought out in the study on the private costs of education:

"Parents...see tuition as a road to their children's social and economic advancement. Teachers...see it as a source of additional untaxed income. Moreover, private tuition [is]...seen as a means of improving educational performance at no cost to the taxpayer."

Joynathsing et al, 1988, p.64.

A s a result, it is not easy to enlist public support to reduce the prevalence of tutoring, unless very strong measures for improving the quality of teaching are proposed.

1. Attitude change

Given the fact that m u c h of the problem caused by the race to the elite schools is attitudinal, one might think of changing parental attitude. This might first be done with the help of community participation. O n e aspect of this participation can be the collaboration of parents, and it is interesting to note that in Mauritius each school is required by law to have a Parent-Teachers' Association (PTA). S o m e of the P T A s are indeed quite strong, while others exist only in name.

P T A s could be useful for a discussion on the evils of private tuition. Parents could be educated to learn that the "school is not the only yardstick, for there are people w h o , having failed at school, do very well in later life" (Brimer and Pauli, 1971, p. 122). In this respect, a study on the private costs of education suggested that "parents should be more aware of ill effects of tutoring" (Joynathsing et al., 1988, p.61). If the conscientization process of parents is properly carried out, it could diminish the mythical power of the 'five-star' secondary school and reduce the pressures of competition.

2 . Prohibition a n d licensing

Can private tuition be banned, as in Korea where private tutoring for a fee was made illegal a few years ago? (Marimuthu et al., 1991, p. 10). The Mauritian Government did ban private tuition in the first three standards, but experience shows that banning a practice in the face of supply and demand is usually ineffective. Indeed, at present, children of Standards П and HI in a few schools do attend tuition. Paradoxically the government also legalized tuition in upper primary education by allowing private tuition from Standards IV to V I to be

29


given on school premises. Although such a measure has been criticized, the Minister of Education justifies it on the following grounds:

"(i) U n lieu hygiénique, aéré, spacieux, doté de tout le confort pour mieux assimiler les explications du professeur;

(ii) un contrôle sur le nombre d'élèves afin de le réduire au strict minimum; (iii) suppression de risques d'accident sur la route car les élèves, dans la très grande

majorité des cas, doivent faire une longue distance pour se rendre sur le lieu des leçons." Week-End, 12 janvier 1992?

A U N E S C O document recently proposed the registration of private tutors and suggested that tutoring be permitted "only in small groups of no more than 20 primary school pupils and 10 secondary students" ( U N E S C O , Issues and Strategies, 1991, p.26). In this respect, it is interesting to note that, according to the Education Act 1957, clauses 2 and 9, a private tuition 'class' of 10 or more pupils is a school and should not begin to function unless it has been registered under the said act. The Minister, too, seems to be in favour of regulating tutoring classes, but he also makes it clear that "il n'est pas question d'avoir une société policée"8 (Week-End, 12 January 1992). Our system is indeed democratic and it is not possible to coerce people to do anything beyond certain limits.

3 . Introduction of a special secondary school entrance examination

T o achieve a reduction in costly repetition in the last grade of primary schools, a

World Bank document (1988, p.50) makes the following suggestion:

"Accordingly, a useful strategy for reducing drop-outs is to separate the primary school leaving examination from the secondary school examination. Under this arrangement, pupils take the school leaving examination at the conclusion of the cycle and, if they are successful, receive a diploma certifying that they have completed primary school. The secondary school entrance examination is taken independently. Individual students can try to improve their chances of success in the entrance examination through independent study or private tuition, but not by prolonging their time in a government primary school."

While this recommendation might work in certain countries, it seems that it will not have the desired effects in the Mauritian context, because it will only prolong the agony of the C P E candidates w h o will have to sit for two examinations instead of one. Moreover, in Burundi, which has a situation of repetition which is more or less similar to that of Mauritius, there is no evidence to suggest that such a separation has reduced the demand for repetition (Schwüle et al., 1991, p.17). Finally, encouraging private tuition in a country where the spectre is already disrupting the system is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

7. School premises are hygienic, well-ventilated and spacious places which have every comfort and which allow children to assimilate the explanations of the teacher. They permit us to keep an eye on the size of tuition groups so that w e can reduce them to the m i n i m u m . They eliminate risks of accidents on the road, for most of the students have to travel a long distance to go to their tuition-class.

8. There is no question of having a society which will spy on private tuition.

30

Strategies

4. A nine-year basic education cycle

The Master Plan for Education makes provisions for a nine-year basic education which will give easy access to a quality secondary education to everyone and which will reduce the pressures of private tutoring. According to this scheme, every child will be provided with a six-year primary course, followed by three years of lower secondary school. Continuous pupil assessment will be introduced as from Standard I and the assessment of the last three years of primary schooling will count for 20 per cent of the C P E . Under the n e w policy, fewer repetitions and higher pass rates will occur. More pupils will complete the different levels and in less time so that the internal efficiency rate will be increased as the comparison of the pupil flow in Table 10 shows.

Table 10. Typical pupil flow from Standard I to Form HI: comparison of present education system with proposed n e w system

Number of pupils per 1 000

Standard I Standard П Standard Ш Standard IV Standard V Standard VI CPE passes Form I Form П Form 1П

Present system

1 000 997 995 991 983 970 730 730 690 640

New system

1 000 997 995 991 983 970 870 940* 920 890

Including basic secondary and technical vocational at I V T B . Source: U N E S C O , Issues and Strategies, 1991, p.21.

The table shows that as the number of drop-outs and repeaters decreases, there will be a m u c h lower level of wastage and the internal efficiency index will improve (from 1.46) to around 1.2.

4.1 Limitations of the nine-year basic education system

A number of reservations have been expressed to the proposed introduction of the new scheme. It seems that the new scheme will not free our system from the stigma of elitism and will not eliminate the cutthroat race to the elite school, but will simply postpone the pressures from Standard V I to Form Ш (Standard DC) and from age 10 to age 13.

Moreover, the new scheme which makes provisions for an expansion of primary schooling has important implications as far as buildings and teachers are concerned. Finally, it is often said that the programme of continuous assessment is fraught with defects, as

31


teachers m a y be tempted to give higher marks to their tuition students or to others from certain social group. In this connection, one encouraging reaction c a m e from the Director of the Mauritius Examination Syndicate w h o said recently:

"I contend that w e should not rush into continuous assessment before the Essential Learning Competencies are finalised and teachers are properly trained and have access to a well tested bank of questions." Week-End, 3 May 1992.

5 . N e e d for review of the examinat ion system

Nevertheless, since private tuition and repetition are direct manifestations of examination pressures, one might well consider a review of the C P E which tests mostly factual information:

"Thus, examinations might become tests of ability rather than of acquired knowledge. Examinations on such lines would be less 'crammable' and would therefore rely less on tuition than the existing style of examinations. Again, employers might be encouraged to rely less on academic qualifications in their recruitment procedures, and more on other systems — e.g. aptitude testing." Joynathsing et al, 1988, p.65.

A n in-depth research is therefore needed so that a n e w examination system which takes into consideration both high-flyers and slow learners and which eliminates the relentless race can be devised.

6 . E x p a n s i o n a n d greater uniformity

Since the reason for the high repetition rate at the end of the primary cycle lies in the difficulties of obtaining access to a good secondary school, the Master Plan (1991, p.34) indicates that part of the answer to the 'rat race' must be in the expansion of the secondary system:

"...government plans to construct five additional secondary schools by the year 2000. Preference in the construction of new schools will be given to those areas that are deprived of good schools. The number of new schools to be constructed will be regularly reviewed in the light of n e w data."

In an interview, the Minister is even m o r e specific: " M o n objectif dans 2/3 ans? Augmenter substantiellement ce nombre (c.à.d. 4,000 aujourd'hui) pour atteindre 10,000 places." Week-End, 12 January 1992.9

T h e additional places will be provided not only by the building of n e w schools, but also by the expansion of the existing ones.

If 10,000 places are indeed provided in two to three years, as the Minister claims, then a first step in the right direction will have been m a d e . Nevertheless, it is not enough that additional seats are created; the schools where the places will be available must build up a

9. M y aim in 2/3 years is to increase this number (i.e., 4,000 today) significantly to reach 10,000 places.

32

Strategies

good reputation by improving their teaching-learning environment. Only then will they be attractive in the eyes of parents and be in demand.

A s far as the disparities between private and state secondary schools are concerned, the government is doing its best to bridge the gap. In the past it has offered a number of incentives to private schools to help them improve their facilities. For example, the salaries and conditions of work of teachers in private and state schools have been m a d e uniform, and a number of private institutions have been authorized to run H S C classes. Finally, the Development B a n k of Mauritius is offering soft loans to private secondary schools at eight per cent interest for ten years with a one-year grace period. O n e hundred million rupees have already been allocated for this project and the scheme is expected to be reviewed from time to time. In this w a y , it is hoped that as private secondary schools improve their facilities and the qualifications of their staff, there will be some uniformity a m o n g the secondary institutions of the island and the public too will think less and less in terms of 'star' or 'low performing' schools.

Indeed, while all the measures proposed above are interesting, it seems that the best remedy is an expansion of higher quality schools and a greater uniformity between private and state institutions.

33

Concluding remarks

The alarming proportion that private tuition has assumed in Mauritius and in some other countries is an important challenge for policy-makers not only because it has serious implications on the social and private costs of primary education but also because it m a y well have negative psychological consequences on the future generation. Even more important is the fact that it m a y lead to a kind of perversion of the learning and socializing functions of the education system. Indeed, instead of inculcating useful knowledge and skills and instead of instilling socially relevant values, education is promoting 'cramming' and selfishness. Moreover, far from being a leveller, education is widening the gap between rich and poor.

In this respect, it is encouraging to note that while the topic of private tuition only a few years ago would not have stirred m u c h discussion, it has n o w started to m a k e m a n y people uneasy and aroused m a n y thought-provoking ideas.

But more research on the nature of private tuition and on its financial, non-cognitive and psychological implications will have to be carried out. Only then will it be possible to propose adequate policies and to prevent the m a d race from getting out of control.

34

Bibliography

Brimer, M . A . ; Pauli, L . 1971. Wastage in education, a world problem. U N E S C O , Ш Е , Paris and Geneva.

Cinq Plus Magazine. 1992. Mauritius.

Courtney, W . 1991. The structure and performance of the education system. Unpublished paper presented to the Master Plan Committee. Paris.

Droopnath Ramphul State Secondary School Magazine. 1991. A survey on private tuition. Mauritius.

Government of Mauritius. 1991. Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture: Master Plan for the Year 2000. Port Louis.

Government of Mauritius. 1984. White Paper on education. Port Louis.

Joynathsing, M . ; Mansoor, M . ; Nababsing, V . ; Pochun, M . ; Selwyn, P. 1988. The private costs of education. Réduit. Mauritius.

Le Mauricien. 1989. Mauritius.

MacDonald, G . 1990. Student progress — some of its causes and effects. IffiP seminar series on Current Issues in Educational Planning, П Е Р , Paris.

Management Audit Bureau. 1989. Report on the private secondary education sector. Ministry of Finance, Mauritius.

Marimuthu, T . ; Singh, J.S.; A h m a d , K . ; Lim Hong Kuan; Mukherjee, H . , Osman , S.; Chelliah, T . ; Sharma, J.R.; Sallen, N . M . 1991. Extra school instruction, social equity and educational quality. Report prepared for the International Development Research Centre, Malaysia.

Pararajasingham, G . 1980. A study of the growth and development of private tutories in the city of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of M.Phil, in education. University of Delhi, India.

Ramdoyal et al. 1990. The High-level committee on a proposed nine-year schooling system. Proposal for structural reform. Mauritius.

35

Bibliography

Rohlen, T . 1983. Japan's High School. University of California Press, Beckley.

Schiefelbein E . 1991. Seven strategies for improving the quality and efficiency of the education system. Notes and Comments N o . 192. U N E S C O / U N I C E F , Paris.

Schwüle, J.; Eiseman, Т . О . ; Ukobizoba, F.; Houang, R . ; K w o n D . ; Prouty, R . 1991. Is grade repetition always wasteful? New data and unanswered questions. Bridges -Harvard Graduate School of Education, U S A , N o . 7.

Silva, W . A . ; Gunawardane, C ; Jayaweera, S.; Perera, L . ; Rupasinghe, S.; Wijetunge, S. 1991. Extra school instruction, social equity and educational quality. Sri Lanka.

The Standard. 1992. Nairobi.

The Sun. 1991. Mauritius.

U N E S C O . 1991. Issues and Strategies: Education sector overview in the context of the Master Plan for Education. Paris and Port Louis.

U N E S C O . 1984. Office of Statistics, Division of Statistics on Education. Basic education and literacy. World Statistical Indicators from 1970 to 1980. Paris.

U N E S C O . 1990. Office of Statistics: Basic education and literacy. World Statistical Indicators. Paris.

U N E S C O Sources, N o . 34. 1992. Education for all. Monograph. Paris.

Ward, W . E . F . 1941. Report on education in Mauritius. Mauritius.

Week-End. 15 December 1991. Mauritius.

Ibid., 12 January 1991.

Ibid., 16 January 1992.

Ibid., 22 March 1992.

Ibid., 12 April 1992.

Ibid., 3 M a y 1992.

White, M . 1987. The Japanese educational challenge: a commitment to children. Kodansha International, Tokyo and N e w York.

World Bank. 1988. Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies for adjustment, revitalization and expansion. Washington D . C .

36

П Е Р publications and documents

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M o n o g r a p h № . 8

Private tutoring has a long tradition in m a n y countries but has become a real business during recent years. Upper- and middle-class parents are increasingly using private tutoring as a means to retain a relative advantage for their children in the education 'race'. At the same time, private tutoring has been a welcome opportunity to increase the income of formal school teachers, whose salaries have often been seriously eroded over recent decades. D e m a n d and supply factors are therefore reinforcing each other, creating a real market for individual student coaching.

Although the phenomenon is widespread, it has not been properly researched, and its educational and social consequences remain largely unexplored. The present study is a contribution to bridging this knowledge gap. It analyses in detail private tutoring of primary school children in Mauritius, its causes and modalities, and also its consequences. The author argues that the private tutoring business not only increases inequalities in educational opportunities but also leads to a devaluation of teaching ethics and finally to a serious distortion of the aims of the education system itself. In the last chapter he reviews different strategies which can be used to remedy the present situation.

T h e author

M r . A . Raffick Foondun is a Senior Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture of Mauritius. The present paper has been prepared during his training at the 1 Ш Р in 1991/1992.

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