Patrick Hilbert
6 May 2008
analysis
Port Louis — Since education became free thirty years ago, the disparity in State financial grants has been a bone of contention; the federation of managers has obtained from the ministry that a committee be set up to take up this burning issue. Private secondary schools like Saint-Andrews College have proved that they can compete with State schools. Why should they be worse off financially?
Equality of chances for all children? Our educational system doesn't really promote parity of esteem, especially at secondary school level. Even if the matter has been discused again and again, not much seems to have been achieved. Though the issue is a complex one, things seem to have moved on a bit.
Following pressure from the private sector, through the Federation of managers of private secondary schools, the ministry of Education has accepted to take up the matter. Last week, the ministry proposed the setting up of a technical committee to examine and take steps to bring parity of esteem.
However, a lot of work needs to be done to reach the target. Like a report of the Management Audit Bureau (MAB) pointed out in 2006, state schools and private colleges don't play in the same league. If private secondary schools receive an average per capita grant of Rs 19 665 per year from the State, the per capita grant in public schools is, on average, Rs 33 393. "Ideally, there shouldn't be any difference in treatment between private and public schools but how can you explain that the State spends twice more for a pupil going into a state school", asks Harris Bachwa, the Federation's spokesperson. He points out that this is one of the major problems of his sector.
Another report, entitled Revision of Comprehensive Grant Formula 2006 points out: "If the ministry of Education is working towards raising national academic performance, it should devote more attention to the performance of private colleges, specially the low performing ones. In this respect, the ministry should develop an action plan to enhance performance in private colleges taking into consideration class size in terms of teachers/pupils ratio, upgrading teachers' skills and using adapted pedagogy for slow learners."
Even between private schools, the sum granted by the State is not the same and depends on several factors like, for instance, school population, infrastructure, investment made, availability of facilities and subjects offered.
In 2005, the school with the lowest per capita expenditure was Loreto College in Pailles with Rs 8 932. The establishment with the highest per capita was St Mary's College, Bambous, with Rs 103 888. Both had less than 175 students. Concerning colleges with a school population higher than 1 399, Imperial College earns a per capita of Rs 13 715 while Keats College gets Rs 25 158.
"If the ministry of Education is working towards raising national academic performance, it should devote more attention to private colleges, specially low performing ones."
It is also observed that MEDCO (state-owned company running several ex-private schools) colleges tend to have highest per capita expenditure in the various ranges of student population. "It is also a fact that those MEDCO colleges tend to have the lowest pupil/teacher ratio. A MEDCO school hence seems to be overstaffed", notes the same MAB report.
The funding of private secondary schools started with the introduction in 1977 of free secondary education. Since that year, most private schools have been registered as grant-aided schools. In 2006, there were 119 private secondary schools registered, 99 of which are grant-aided and 20 non-grant aided with a school population of about 65 000 students, which represents approximately 65% of the whole school population.
While non-grant aided establishments are run on a self-financed basis, grant-aided schools are run from public funds through the Private Secondary Schools Authority (PSSA). "We would like to offer a better learning environment to our pupils. We really want to do better, because all students should be considered on the same level", says Harris Bachwa.
Another well-known fact is that some schools will have to close down because they aren't upgradeable. This concerns about 15 private schools. The ministry will also have to decide what to do with them. However, the main question is: how far is the government willing to go in this issue of grants' review to put all Mauritian students on the same footing?
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