Pauline Etienne
24 July 2007
Port Louis — While minister Gokhool was saying a year ago that parents were responsible for private tuition, the Unesco has just said the opposite: governments should make sure appropriate policies are applied to reduce their impact.
Private tuition benefits pupils only if they are in small groups like it is the case in complementary schools.
A number of education experts gathered in Paris on 5th and 6th April to discuss what many people call the "necessary evil". The policy forum of the International institute for education planning (IIPE-Unesco) chose a theme that was particularly relevant to the Mauritian context this year, "Confronting the shadow education system: what government policies for what private tutoring?" This seminar made it clear that private tuition was gaining ground in the whole world and that there was an urgent need for governments to stop ignoring this phenomenon. In Mauritius only, it has become a real scourge with pedagogic and economic implications.
Several reports have pointed at the inequalities brought by private tuition in Mauritius. Last year, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa insisted in its report that private tuition was among the main flaws of the local education system.
The problem with private tuition in Mauritius is mainly that it is everything except private. Instead of being a place and moment where children are in small groups and can ask questions about what they learnt in class, it is often a place where they are crammed with forty or so other students in a teacher's garage. Private tuition is supposed to be made for pupils who have difficulties in a specific subject and needs reinforcement by a teacher who has time and patience and who deals with two or three children at one time. In Mauritius, most tuition classes are miles away from this model.
Private tuition has become a real industry where many teachers have found a way of raising their income. Vassen Naëck, senior lecturer at the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE), said it clearly, "The wealthiest families can send their children to the best schools, give them all the private tuition they want. This race for success can however be detrimental to some aspects of the child's development." On the other hand, average pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds cannot sometimes achieve as best as they would since they are deprived of financial support for such competition.
Of course, some teachers have kept their passion for their jobs and really want to help those who need it. But many only take advantage of a system where competition prevails.
The relation between competition and private tuition is clear. This is why private tuition is not a way of changing pupils' weaknesses into strengths but merely an opportunity to create laureates. How many ten year-olds wake up at 5.30 am to take their first private tuition before school begins? There is no question of losing time, as the afternoon is also dedicated to private tuition in other subjects.
Hence, the curriculum reform announced by the minister of Education more than a year ago that was expected to abolish the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) was most welcome. However, the minister has not mentioned any time frame for its implementation and the file seems to be dormant at the moment.
In the new system, as stated in the ministry's reform document, there should be little room left for competition and more focus on the integral development of the child. In an interview given to l'express, Pritam Parmessur pointed out the need for legislation. "I believe MPs should really reflect on legislation. It is true that the CPE puts a lot of pressure on the child and may disturb his/her development. By withdrawing it from the system, private tuition will die of a slow death."
Only a total revamping of the system will help decrease or abolish private tuition in its present form. For the moment, it is a vicious circle where parents do not dare not to send their children for private tuition since nearly every other parent sends his. One child will thus be disadvantaged if he/she does not go for private tuition. Moreover, some teachers might not be doing their best in class because they know pupils will catch up in private tuition sessions.
The improvement of education in school appears as a solution to put an end to this industry and reorient private tuition towards its real objectives. "There is no doubt that private tuition is a necessary evil today because the school system does not allow the child to acquire the methodology and knowledge in class," says pedagogue Prem Burton. But private tuition is absolute nonsense if it is only a repetition of what is supposed to have been done in the classroom.
What has been done to try and stop the industry?
Two former ministers of Education took part in the forum held in Paris at the beginning of the month and they both highlighted their own initiatives to try and reduce the scourge. The secretary of the executive council of the Unesco, Armoorgum Parsuramen, recalled how the report made by the University led to public debates and discussions in Parliament to allow private tuition at school after school hours. This was indeed a way of regulating private tuition. The example of complementary schools, launched by Jean-Noël Adolphe, is an example of the success of "private tuition".
People from underprivileged regions have to be helped to emerge from exclusion through education. Hence, catching-up classes help children from these areas to succeed in their primary and secondary education. As they are in small groups (not more than eight), children take full advantage of these courses. As for Steven Obeegadoo, senior consultant in education at the World Bank, he said he wanted to act on the demand instead of the offer. The end of the ranking was indeed aimed at abolishing competition - and consequently reducing private tuition.
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