Patrick Hilbert
24 July 2007
Port Louis — The project for children having failed the end of primary exams, it's generally admitted, can be successful. The same program re-engineered by the Bureau of catholic education (BEC) is however, faring much better.
With the same programme, but with a different approach and a slightly different name - the PrevokBEK - the prevocational department of the Bureau of Catholic Education, like this one at Loreto College Port-Louis, is on the road to success.
Launched in 2001, the major aim of the prevoc project was to rehabilitate those who had failed the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) examination twice by admitting them in colleges, both private and state-owned, but with a different program than that of the mainstream. The intention was to give them back the confidence in themselves they had lost by failing the exams at the end of the primary cycle. Integrate them, srather than isolate them, was the message. While state secondary schools adopted one approach, catholic schools adopted another one (PrevokBEK) and, of course, the results have proved different.
During the last six years, there has been much pressure exerted on the ministry of Education. The Private Secondary Schools Authority even suggested to move those pupils to the most unpopular private colleges that are on the edge of closing down.
To integrate is unfortunately not always as easy as planned. The same is true for this project. In most state schools, pupils from the prevocational department do not have a very good reputation. "They're violent. We have a lot of problems with them. They just can't cohabitate with the other pupils. They don't have their place in our colleges", says a rector from a state college. And he's not the only one to make such a severe judgment.
During the last six years, there has been much pressure exerted on the minister of Education by parents, teachers and even high ministry officials to do away with that stream. The Private Secondary Schools Authority (PSSA) even suggested, in a report submitted in 2005, to move those pupils to the most unpopular private colleges that are on the edge of closing down.
Although he was one of those who gave his full support to the project, a high ministry official has changed his mindset. "It is sad to say, but the integration hasn't worked quite well in many and will never work in some state schools. How can it be different when parents, teachers and sometimes rectors don't want to make it a success? Having observed this, I think it would be a lesser evil to separate the prevocational departments from the mainstream."
But this official adds, "In some state colleges, the experiment is doing really well thanks to the commitment of the head of school who has succeeded in motivating his staff. And concerning the lack of discipline, let me say that students from the mainstream in star colleges can be a lot worse."
Another rector, coming form a rural state college, testifies. "Several meetings with teachers and parents have been organized, but the teachers don't accept that mixed cohabitation between the prevoc and the mainstream. Prejudices against prevoc pupils are really strong. I think there's a lack of competence of teachers to establish a socio-emotional climate in teaching and learning aspects. How far is the teacher prepared to take on board the pupil's self-esteem?" Prevoc students are more difficult to handle, because their day-to-day reality is different from the others, but "this is not an excuse for saying that they're not good".
That rector expresses concern about the "elitist spirit of state college teachers". "Education is about teaching with the heart, with passion, and that sometimes lacks in those schools", he deplores. It seems that prevoc has not yet found its place in the state secondary schools.
But meanwhile, the BEC has made some headway. With the same program, but with a different approach (and a slightly different name, PrevokBEK), the project is on the road to success. How did they do it?
Taking into consideration that the language base used for teaching in primary schools does not suit those pupils, they have shifted to the mother tongue, "kreol morisien". The second asset is that the catholic education authority can count on a team of dedicated teachers convinced of the need for PrevokBEK. They have fully engaged themselves to make it happen.
"I don't want to blame state colleges, but I don't think they are fit for such projects", explains Jimmy Harmon, project coordinator in 2004 at the ministry's level and now in the same post at the BEC. "But in certain state colleges it works", he adds. "The students from prevoc and prevokBEK are often children living in difficult family contexts; they are sometimes hard to handle but, with the right approach, you can gain the right results", thinks Jimmy Harmon.
Rajen Chamroo, spokesman of the Federation of private college managers, thinks the concept of prevoc is a very interesting one. "We try to make these young people feel at home and integrated in the school community. Mixing prevocational departments with the mainstream was a good initiative, but we unfortunately lack support form the ministry, which seems not very interested in making it a success. At our level, we try to make the difference, and some succeed very well."
Certainly, everything is not perfect in catholic and other private schools, but there's a will to achieve which does not seem to be forthcoming in the majority of state colleges.
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