Touria Prayag
23 June 2008
Port Louis — The temerity with which some pressure groups are trying to pressurize the Minister of Education to concede to a segregation policy regarding the Prevocational pupils is breathtaking! And it is not the first time either. Back in 2005, some PTAs, in a fit of fear, verging on paranoia, started getting fidgety about the pre-vocs sharing the same school with the main stream children.
As President of a PTA, I wrote in the columns of this very paper that to begin with 'PTAs are supposed to represent the whole parent population. By turning against one segment of the very people they represent, they are shooting themselves in the foot and falling short of their remit.' (Hands Off the Pre-Vocs, July 27, 2005) Mr. Gokhool did not give in then and in many schools, the cohabitation was a real success story.
I have seen prevocational students huddled over tables and computers, mixing creativity and laughter and savouring the process of organizing sports events and cultural shows in the company of their peers from the main stream.
I have had tears of joy come up to my eyes when I saw the eagerness with which they participated in the life of a school whose uniform they were so proud to wear. And they have contributed meaningfully and extensively and given back to the school as much as it has given them. No one can, by any stretch of imagination, hold any one of these students responsible for any of the problems we have experienced as a school.
It saddens me that a problem we thought we had gone some way in solving has come up for discussion again. It saddens me to see some representatives of teachers advocating sending these pupils to stigmatized schools. There really is no politically correct way of saying this but, moral obligation and ethics aside, teachers paid from tax payers' money are not allowed to pick and choose the children they want to educate. Their challenge is to bring out the best in every child. The pressure they are trying to put on the Minister is something the profession has no reason to be proud of.
«Reaching out to pupils who were unsuccessful at the CPE ...was the single smartest, most humane and most forward looking move of the Obeegadoo Reform.»
It equally saddens me that we think we are unique and that what has not worked for others is likely to work for us. In many other countries, the lines between vocational and academic education are becoming more and more blurred because of the increasingly technical nature of the global economy; many educators are convinced that students need the same knowledge and skills whether they are going to work or to university after graduation.
Indeed, an additional technical background may give students a leg up career-wise on students in regular academic tracks as it provides the link between what they are learning and why they are learning it. So, many academic students now take some modules hitherto reserved for vocational students. And they share the same CLASSES for these modules.
On our little paradise, we are so out of it that we do not even accept that they share the same school! And the professionals to whom children discriminated against would normally appeal are the ones advocating discrimination and stigma!
Problems of discipline are a symptom of many ailments. Putting 'trouble makers' with other 'trouble makers' will only double the trouble. How about attempting to tackle the cause through more vigilance, stricter discipline and counseling? How about more parent involvement and education?
How about dropping outdated programmes, shoring up others, launching new ones and developing a more suitable curriculum? How about using pre-vocational education to provide opportunities or "pathways" to the future instead of locking students into vocations? How about offering these children a more fulfilled student life?
Reaching out to pupils who were unsuccessful at the CPE, integrating them in mainstream schools and allowing them to wear the same uniform as their more academically-oriented peers was the single smartest, most humane and most forward-looking move of the Obeegadoo Reform.
There are problems, undeniably, but throwing away the baby with the bath water would be callous, inhumane and heartless. It should not be endorsed by any civilized society. I hope Mr. Gokhool does NOT give in.
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