MAURITIUS
60 percent of children aged 12 to 19 years, 51 percent of
BASIC DATA
Official Country Name: Republic of Mauritius
Region: Africa
Population: 1,179,368
Language(s): English, Creole, French,
Hindi, Urdu, Hakka,
Bojpoori
Literacy Rate: 82.9% HISTORY & BACKGROUND
Since Mauritius gained its independence from Britain
in 1968, its educational system, which is based upon
the British model, has seen several upgrades. Primary and
secondary education in the eastern African nation have
been free to all residents since 1976; higher education became
free in 1988.
CONSTITUTIONAL & LEGAL
FOUNDATIONS
Calls for educational reform throughout the 1980s
and 1990s helped shape the country’s workforce-based
curriculum, which is geared toward producing easily
trained and flexible graduates able to function in an increasingly
industrialized country. A Master Plan of Education,
presented by the minister of education in
November 1991, put into motion several major changes
including making primary education mandatory, establishing
the Tertiary Education Commission to increase
enrollment at institutions of higher education, and adding
modern information technology to the educational infrastructure.
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM—OVERVIEW
The Education Act of 1993 requires children between
the ages of 5 and 12 to attend six years of primary
school; enrollment is 98 percent, and roughly 50 percent
of all students are female. The official language of instruction
at all levels is English.
Nearly 78 percent of four-year-old children also attend
preprimary schools. Students must pass a national
examination, conducted by the Mauritius Examination
Syndicate (MES), to receive a Certificate of Primary Education
(CPE) and gain admission to secondary school.
All students at the secondary school level—enrollment is
whom are girls—attend three years of general courses
(lower level). An additional two years of courses (upper
level) prepare secondary students to earn one of two diplomas:
the Cambridge School Certificate or the Cambridge
Higher School Certificate. The University of
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, along with
the MES, oversees the final examinations for secondary
students. Only 15 to 20 percent of all students earn a
Higher School Certificate, while less than 2 percent of all
students actually enroll at an institution of higher learning.
Private schools are commonplace in Mauritius mainly
because the Education Act allows any business or individual
in the country to create a primary or secondary
school. The Private Secondary Schools Authority oversees
government funding to private institutions. Private
postsecondary institutions must be approved by the Industrial
and Vocational Training Board and are subject
to audit by the National Accreditation and Equivalence
Council.
State-owned secondary schools are all equipped with
a minimum of ten computers; private schools seek out
grant funding for instructional technology. Similarly, science
classrooms in state schools are furnished with laboratory
implements, while private institutions receive
loans to fund the purchase of similar equipment. Textbooks
are free to all primary school students. Secondary
school students must pay for their texts, which are standardized
at the lower level and selected by school-based
curriculum committees for upper level courses.
PREPRIMARY & PRIMARY EDUCATION
The growing role of women in the workforce
prompted the establishment of public preschools in 1984.
Of the 1,087 preprimary schools in operation, 79 percent
are private; 16 percent are overseen by Parent Teacher
Associations; and 5 percent are run by municipal and village
councils. In contrast, the government controls 225
of the 291 primary schools in operation. The majority
(51) of the remaining primary schools are run by the
Roman Catholic Education Authority (RCEA). Along
with mathematics, French, English, religion, and environmental
studies, primary curriculum offerings have included
seven Asian languages since 1986. Primary
school enrollment reached 135,237 in 2000. The studentteacher
ratio is 36:1.
SECONDARY EDUCATION
The government runs 34 of the nation’s 134 secondary
schools, while religious organizations, including the
RCEA and the Hindu Education Authority, oversee most
of the remaining 100 schools. Enrollment grew to 95,448
students in 2000. The student-teacher ratio is 19:1. Students
who choose not to attend a general secondary
school may enroll in technical and vocational programs
offered at 25 schools; the student-teacher ratio at those
institutions is 16:1.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Students with the Higher School Certificate may
choose to attend one of two lycées (polytechnical institutes),
run by the Management Trust Fund, or one of four
universities.
Established in 1972, the University of Mauritius
(UOM) offers programs of study in agriculture, sugar
technology, industrial technology, and policies and administration.
Enrollment in 1997 reached 2,800 students.
Faculty members, both full- and part-time, totaled 300.
Mainly a teaching college, Mauritius Institute of Education
(MIE) offers education degrees in science, agri mathematics, and
computers, as well as programs
in commerce and business studies, general education
studies, English, French, movement and physical education,
home economics, visual arts, design and technology,
educational administration and management, media and
teaching aids, and social studies. MIE also offers postgraduate
teaching certification.
The Mahatma Gandhi Institute, founded in 1970 by
the governments of India and Mauritius to promote Indian
ethnology, operates three schools: Music and Fine
Arts, Indian Studies, and Mauritian and Asian Studies.
Finally, Mauritius College of the Air, which broadcasts
classes, offers postsecondary education in English,
French, chemistry, physics, mathematics, business management,
and accounting.
ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, &
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development
oversees all support provided to educational
institutions. Mauritius spent 14.9 percent of government
total recurrent expenditure on education in 2000. As authorized
by the Mauritius Research Council, national educational
research is conducted in four areas: teacher
education, multicultural issues, special education, and
curriculum.
NONFORMAL EDUCATION
In 1995, a total of 17.8 percent of the population was
deemed illiterate. Five government organizations and 51
nongovernment organizations offer literacy training to all
age groups.
TEACHING PROFESSION
The Mauritius Institute of Education offers training
to new and experienced teachers at the preprimary
through secondary levels. Preprimary teachers are required
to hold a Cambridge School Certificate and complete
a training course. Primary education teachers must
also complete a two-year program consisting of both
coursework and teaching practice. State school teachers
at the secondary level must have a degree from an accredited
university to earn the title of ‘‘Education Officer
Grade A’’ or a Cambridge Higher School Certificate and
three-years of part-time teacher training, which culminates
in a teaching diploma, to earn the title of ‘‘Education
Officer Grade B.’’
Secondary school teachers at private institutions are
required to hold a college degree to become an Education
Officer; a Cambridge School Certificate and a teaching
diploma to become a Grade I teacher; or a Cambridge
Higher School Certificate to become a Grade II teacher.
To earn a postgraduate certificate in education, students
must take 24 credits of coursework and 8 credits of teaching
practice.
SUMMARY
The educational policies and practices of Mauritius
will likely remain closely tied to the nation’s economic
development. With legislation underway for the creation
of a University of Technology and many education officials
calling for the increase of mandatory education from
six to nine years, the primary, secondary, and tertiary educational
systems of the nation may undergo considerable
changes early in the twenty-first century.