Some of the issues raised by the leader of the opposition on the high failure rates of the students of the Extended Stream for the National Certificate of Examinations (NCE) had been highlighted in more details some two years back, by Mr RAJENDRA SEWPERSADSING in an article in Le Mauricien titled “NCE and Extended Stream(EP) : “Failures in the waiting”.
Some extracts , that shows that were reasons to be concerned as the article in Le Mauricien was setting the alarm bells on the Extended Programme students whom he considers to be “failures in the waiting":
--“In a report (Nov. 2018) entitled “A Process Evaluation of the Grade 7 Extended Stream”, I alerted the authorities concerned, namely the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE), that if the students of the Extended Programme (EP) are to sit for the same National Certificate of Education (NCE) exams as their counterparts of the mainstream, then, there is no doubt, practically all the EP students are “Failures in the waiting”. ……
--“The prescribed textbooks for the EP do not lead to the NCE. More than 75% of the Educators were of that opinion. How come the EP students are exposed to a curriculum that does not prepare them for the final exams? Another pertinent question: Is there a final examination, in any education system throughout the world, whereby the candidates are prepared for ONLY part of the syllabus and whereby candidates are expected to answer ONLY part of the exam question paper?”
--“The Ministry of Education and the MIE will never agree to this reality because they do not want to show that they were wrong in their design and implementation of the Extended Programme.”
--"I would make an appeal to the Ministry of Education to re-consider the mode of evaluation for the EP students. Mainstream and Extended are two very different streams; how can we evaluate both streams by the same examination. EP students have the same profile as the students of the prevocational stream; they have the same learning difficulties and they come from the same social background."
--"Put aside all pride and prejudice and save those EP students. I extend my plea to trade unions, especially those in the education sector. The struggle of trade unions should not ONLY be better pay packet and/or additional fringe benefits. They should also fight for a better service to the respective clientele and the whole nation."
--"The EP students deserve a better education to safeguard their future in particular and the Mauritian society at large. React now before it is too late.”
Our comments :
This shows that the one-size-fits-all approach to education reform reform is turning out to be mere cosmetic touches without profound changes in either curriculum or teaching methodologies that are adaptable to the different learning abilities of students. On the “Extended Stream” system, there were enough of indications that we were heading towards a dead end.
A rethink, not cosmetic changes, is necessary on the challenges of combining a specialised academic programme with providing adequate vocational training or else we will be banging our head against a brick wall: after four years of mainstream education forced upon unwilling students, we will be faced with another batch of student failures and frustration.
The way that the authorities are going about the reform at their own pace and in a piecemeal , trial and error approach makes us doubt whether our reformers are prepared for an overhaul the whole education system.
