I heard about it on the radio this morning and flashed back: I asked all kinds of questions but didn't get that many answers. Thought it was a cool idea -- anything that got me away from school was kind of cool -- and even wanted to join in. But I was told that primary students were not exactly welcome.
One Noor Adam Essack wrote about that event in Le Matinal today where he mentioned that students protested at the time because they wanted an education system that reflected our local flavour.
35 years later, are you happy with our education system? While you think about it I'll have my friend John sing something for us.
24 comments:
According to Mr Gookhool we now have a world-class education.
For soem reason we dont hear anyone else harping about thsi slogan anymore now. lol.
Good comment about Noor Adam Essack who now lives comfortably in London. Usually he sends his articles to all newspapers, believing one of them will publish his piece, where usually he mentions all the authors and books he has heard of. By the way, did Hayek triumphed over Keynes? I really wonder since Hayek landed in England a bit too late: Keynes had already published his masterpieces and was already in the limelight. Anyway, a good thing happened after May 75. Chaperon had to go (with his lobby behind) and make room for a younger and more dynamic MoE.
"World Class Education"
Well I think he should be living in another world ;-)
Our university is not even within the top 2000 in THIS world ;-)
@ VikramG
Which one - UTM or UoM - isn't in the Top 2 000?
:-)
I think you meant "BOTH", right?
Just checked my facts.
I should have written TOP 3000.
@akagugo
I don't consider UTM as a university.
For me UTM is just a university in name but not in form. In other countries, UTM would have been branded a polytechnic.
Most of the polytechnics, where I stay, are much better than UTM!
hola hola, enn world class education. does it ring any bell? that man used to repeat this al the time on tv, wish we had the canal plus pupets here.
silence, un world class education.
by the way, where is he now?
@Last Anonymous:
Last time I read that he was going back to the UOM to take up a post as Assoc. Prof.
Well, I have to give him credit. He is playing his part in providing a world class education ;-)
Ena buku travay pu fer dan nu system ledikasyon: curriculum primer la bizin re-ekrer net sa, fou ene index dan saken sa ban liv la pu komanse. Pou parent montrer so zenfan li kuma dire ene parkur du kombatan. Bizin oussi diriz nou vers plis kollaboration dan klass ki competition. Ene lot kote si nu retourss nou lamans nu pu fer ene differens jaldi jaldi.
@SJ:
Completely agree with you.
We do need an overhaul of our education system.
I will not say that everything is wrong, we do have quite a lot of good points.
However competition at a very young age is harmful as everyone has their own learning pace. Maybe we can have a school for the gifted if the authorities really want to promote competition.
A last note to add:
If we really want to have a world class education why compare our universities with those in Africa! Its true that UOM is within the top 30 in Africa. The top African university is 317th in the world, whereas UOM is 3742nd!
Actually the university that is ranked 11th in Africa is close to 2000th in the world.
If we really want a world class education, we should first accept our current position and then work from there on.
If one is humble, it is easier to move forward rather than pretending to be otherwise and refusing to accept the truth!
A agree with Sanjay's comment above. It seems that these books have been written only for private tuition. Ene vrai parcours de combattant pour banne parents ki envi aide zot zenfants. Since Parsuramen (moralite pa remplie ventre) our schools have become what you know... business units for teachers and the like ! The whole primary education has to be reviewed. A document has been printed entitled : "The National Curriculum Frameword - Primary" on the MoE website. I find in the secondary doc that SETS has disappeared completely up to Form 5. Maybe teachers are having a hell of problems to teach that particular topic !!!
Schools textbooks are first of all BIG BUSINESS. A happy few is making indecent fortunes out of the publication business. No wonder then that the contents of these books are more geared towards competition, greed and selfishness. The education authorities are better advised to put some order there before thinking about world class ambitions.
@ Kozémotandé:
"Big business": indeed!! Rappel ki manuel ki ti bizin servi pou form 4 & form 5 traduction: zis saki ecrire par JBD. Merde, li'nn mort aster. Nécessairement li népli critiquable aster, li ti parfait, non? Sorry missié SJ, mo bien conner kommier respect ou ena pou ça missier-la, mais explik moi enn ti-koutt ki-ferr zis so livre ki ti permett pou servi pou zelev ki faire français? Et moi, étant enn zelev alliance française, mo ti pe gagne "clash" ar mo bann prof français quand mo montrer zott bann ti-"erreur" ki ti ena dans bann livre. Ti ena bann lezott livre ki mem niveau (sinon mieux presenté et à meyerr prix, par exemple Ramharai), mais parmi bann professeur-mem li ti enn sujet tabou pou contester choix bann manuels scolaires... Big business, oui, big money, oui, and many many vested interests ki pou demann enn Bunwaree avec des couilles d'acier pou capave faire enn vrai overhauling - nek guette reaction ça-bann Gourmand La-minn Dipain ki ena dans syndicat bann prof primaires ek secondaires-la enn koutt non - dans enn secterr aussi vital que l'éducation à Dodoland!
@Vikramg: Mersi pu update lor ranking nu liniversite.
@akagugo: Mo pan trouv liv JBD ou pu Ramharai. Si Ramharai offer ene meyer ratio kalite/pri ek kuver seki bizin kone mo pa touve kifer JBD so bann liv bizin gayn exklisivite. Btw ler mo pa dakor ek kitsoz en zeneral mo dir li. Pa ti pu mal li kumans montrer nu ki li ena kuye.
@ SJ
"ler mo pa dakor ek kitsoz en zeneral mo dir li"
I trust you on that, and from the way you've been made to pay for it, it's evident that you've got balls for voicing out what troubles you. That's why I'm still an avid reader of your blog! :-)
Concernant nou systeme educatif, kiferr Mai'75 ti historique? Eski enn conséquence direct c'est l'éducation gratuite? Ou-bien ena enkor plis kikchose ki'nn reste inachevé? Si la grande majorité parents capave permett zott paye lesson particuliere (et en mem temps finance bann businessmen-prof zott lekonomi parallele) eski pa'nn lerr pou re-mette en place systeme "petite bourse et "grande bourse"?
@akagugo: happy to have you around commenting avidly. ;-)
Mo pa kone si li enn kosekans direk. Eleksyon ti le 20 desam 1975. Par kont seki mo kone se ki so implementasyon pan fer kuma transport gratis ou bien non-implementasyon MID. Ti kreer ban institisyon kuma MIE pou refer kurikulum etc. Tiena ossi ban kosto dan ban post de responsabilite: Frank Richard etc
Otan ki mo rappel ti anil la bourse pou fer nu gayn ene lane. Seki mo pense bizin fer c simplifie cursus pu relax tou dimoun ek professer montrer tou seki bizin montrer ent 8h30 ek 14h30 apre 14h30 zenfan kav fer teat, peine, fer sport etc: en dot mo gayn fun! Eski c tro demande?
@SJ
Ce n'est pas trop demander. In fact this should be the real aim of education. These facts are well known to everyone except those who are paid to do policy-making at the various ministries and other public bodies. School textbooks at the primary level are being printed in two parts now! Do you imagine kids weighing around 15kg carrying daily a dozen textbooks weighing 10kg? When I wrote about big business earlier I had this in mind. A few people are amassing undeserved riches to the detriment of our children. Where is the Minister?
@ SJ
"ek 14h30 apre 14h30 zenfan kav fer teat, peine, fer sport etc: en dot mo gayn fun!"
Bein, c'est exactement ça ki proposer dans bann lekol payant!!!
Enn fait, et par coincidence, mo en "conflit" avec mo madam lors question kott pou avoye z'enfant lekol: li-mem li enn prof-fonctionnaire, mais li frustrée par manque de moyens, insalubrité infrastructure, absence leadership dans hiérarchie bann lekol en général, et l'administration ki touletemps faire emergency accomodation pou bann petits-copain/copine ki bien connecté ar bann politiciens ou bann grand commis de l'État.
Moi, mo considère moi très très chanceux ki mo'nn capave adapter ar systeme CPE (mo ti all enn non-star school, mo ti enn extra katar dans maths ziska 5ème, mais mo prof CPE inn konn "cravache" moi pou mo ressi percer). Mais ça lepok-la ti ena zis 20 zelev dans mo classe. Astere-la, la moyenn tourne autour 40-45! Eski enn prof pou konn detecter - ou eski li motivé pou donne li la peine cherche - enn late-developper / slow-learner ek trouve lé-temps pou oriente z'enfant-la? Lakoz sa moi mo ti pou preferre lekol payant, mem si pou bizin serre ceinture à l'extrême pou permette mo z'enfant épanoui.
Mais pou la majorité dimounes, zott bann tax-payers pareil couma tous lezot, et zot pas mérite enn système ki assure zot z'enfants ena plus probabilité fail ki passer (dans ça 30,000 z'enfants ki prend part CPE sak l'année, commier la-dans ki passe HSC éventuellement?). Ena tellement "variable parameters" dans ça equation-la ki li bien difficile donne enn-sel réponse.
Possible si mette tous sa bann dimoune progressiste ensam, enn solution globale capave trouver.
@Kozemotande: b fini konne ban abriti ki p diriz nou. Btw, Vasant ene dokter donk mo sipoze pa bizin explik li ki ene sak zenfan pa kav sa kantite lour la.
@akagugo: nu depens buku pitaye dan ledikasyon. Bizin gette si pa p gayn value for money ek sa. Btw, fine ena ene rediksyon lor grosser klass.
Wi tiena ban prof bien smart lontan. Zot ti fier zot metier ek zot ban zelev ti bien respekte zot.
Swa fer lekol vine payant ou bien mont tax ene tigit me done reziltat. Btw, gaspiye 5 milyar par an selon raport lodit. Si kup 20% ladan gayn ene milyar en plis sak lane.
Pa komplike pu refer system la ene sante.
Ban stats lor cohort la ena li dan ladan mo kwar.
Nu suffer den mank de leadership. Wi, nu bizin kontinie fer tapaz ek montrer kuma la sitiasyon ridikil.
I've read all your comments lately. I have had the opportunity to teach in France after having taught in Mauritius at secondary level before and 20 years after my teaching experience in France. I can tell you that since Parsuramen, nothing has changed in our schools. Let's leave aside the teacher/pupil ration. One period in french public schools is of one hour duration and believe me, when you have two periods to teach, it's not that easy (even with a small break of 7-10 mn in between). In our secondary schools here, what do we see. One period is 40 mn. The teacher comes in. Starts looking here and there. 10 mn gone. Then he aks one pupil to clean the board while he checks everyone has his book and notebook open. 5 mn gone already. Then by the time he decides to start the class, 20 mn gone. The class finally lasts only 15-20 mn. Is this education, I ask ???
@Anonymous: mo pa tro kone ki Parsuramen ine fer konkretman pendan 13 banane ki li minis ledikasyon.
Mo pense ou komparison pa tro korek parski si ou p dire 2x1hr bon ou bizin kompare sa ek 2x40 min. Personelman mo pa ti trouv ki 80min pa tiasse. Depan kuma ou montrer ek kuma ou design ou klass. Tiena professer ki ti mari lakord: ban klass la ti paret kuma ene eternite (mo p koz CSE late 70s ziska mid '80s).
Sinon apard duree ban klass ki lot komparezon interessan ou kav fer ent sistem francais ek sistem morisien o nivo pedagogik?
Li bon ou fine poz la question ? Ou ti zelev SCE, moi mo ti SJC early 70's). Mo kapav kompare empe. Mo rakont ou ene ti zistoire vre (vre parski sa fine arrive vraiment). Ene jeune prof ki fin fek rant travay so premier semen. Ki ape explique, ka pake for for. Apre premier period, zelev dir li misie bizen donne ene brek 5 minit. Korek li donne zot. So voisin prof li osi fine donne ene ti brek. Li vine koz ar li. Li dire li: "Matelot, kot ou kroire ou ete la? Ou dans L'Angleterre? Isi Moris ici. Ou pas trouve ou pe gatte travail la? Donne ene nimero lor tableau, marche marcher matelot! Sa ki ou pe fer la, sa ou fer sa dans lesson! This is what is happening in our schools. Profeser drame pendant ki l'Etat pe paye li ek apre 3.00 p.m. lerla ki li kumans travay (tax free svp !) Seki mo ti pe rode dir dans mo premie post, se ki meme si period la 40 minit, abe prof pa bizen drame dans klas. Zot bizen travay, explique banne zelev kuma bizen, pas gard banne explikation la pu lesson payant. Sa li malhonete parski pe paye li pu sa !
@Anonymous: bizin a c fasil pu management lekol ek inspekter minister dekuver ban seki pa p fer zot travay ou seki ena move latitid.
Mo pou rakont ou ene vre zistoire (ki ti deroule lepok Parsuramen). Ene maitre dekol ene zur fin rapel ene pion a lord (li pa fine fer ene tarvail ki ti dans so 'scheme of duties' sa se ene gran mot ki zotte tou kenne par coeur sa!) Abe pion la pa fine kontan remark maitre dekol la. Li fine fer transfer bug la. Li pas ti kone ki pion la ti ene agent politik sa minis la !
The constitution is the highest law of the land. But it has been written to serve us. Which explains why when people are not happy and protest in the streets government will often hear the message loud and clear and it may even backpedal. Of course there are all kinds of strikes. Here's a deconstruction of an important one.
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