NICE stands for the National Initiative for Civic Education, a government programme under the aegis of the Prime Minister's Office designed to instill values of patriotism and civic responsibility in young citizens.
Mr G.Sanspeur is right in pointing out in his article “RAMGOOLAM: THE RISK OF A ‘NO EVENT’ the risks of relying on a closed clique of outdated advisers and decision-making processes to address modern and new challenges . This reliance on the “nominations bidons , the outdated dinosaurs circles ( "๐ผ๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง, ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ค ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ช๐ง๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ง๐….๐๐๐๐ก๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐จ ๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐ช๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ก๐") risks systemic inertia and leaves the country less capable of adapting to modern policy shifts/transformations.
The NICE programme is an almost perfect illustration of this. The government has brought back the Mr Ong Boon, the Singaporean international consultant with a military background.—the original architect who designed the concept in 2012—to prepare resource persons for the updated project.
The core issue isn't just the age of the 2012 framework, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐จ๐๐๐ซ๐ง ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ that focuses on several key areas:-
๐
๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ, Mauritius is more than ready to shift from quick-fix interventions to a comprehensive, long-term civic curriculum. Critics argue that a short, two-week intervention for a small pilot group of 200 students is entirely inadequate. Leading educators are calling for civic education to be integrated as a permanent, sustainable civic curriculum.
๐๐๐๐จ๐ง๐, educators and local stakeholders emphasise that today's youth face vastly different scales of problems than in 2012, including severe drug abuse, bullying, indiscipline, teenage pregnancy, and classroom violence and
๐๐ก๐ข๐ซ๐ , most educators agree that the priority of the moment is the tackling of the escalating issues of indiscipline, school violence and bullying which require more immediate, granular psychological tools and life-skills programmes.
Today’s press headlines are about indiscipline and violence in schools -“๐’๐๐ฃ๐๐๐จ๐๐๐ฅ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ ร ๐ก’รฉ๐๐ค๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ช๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐จ๐ฉรฉ๐ข๐๐ฆ๐ช๐ , ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐๐จ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐รฉ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐ข๐ข๐ รฉ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ง๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐งรด๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐จ ๐ฅรฉ๐๐๐๐ค๐๐ช๐๐จ”
Our competitive outdated education system does not prepare our youth for life’s challenges; their ideals are often battered by life’s realities and this increases their frustration and stress levels.
Indeed, a balanced development of mind and body in harmony with the spirit is the key to the enrichment of the human personality .When children enter formal education, the provision of safe school environments is critical for them to learn and develop new skills. The school must also create environments that strengthen children's life skills. ๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ก๐จ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ข๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ช๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐ค๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐๐ฃ'๐จ ๐จ๐ค๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ก๐จ, ๐จ๐ช๐๐ ๐๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฎ, ๐จ๐๐ก๐-๐ง๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฉ, ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐ก๐๐ข-๐จ๐ค๐ก๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐, ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ง ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฉ ๐ง๐๐จ๐ค๐ก๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ.
Unfortunately, both in terms of imparting academic and life skills that would have helped in violence prevention, our education system’s elitism fails us miserably by reinforcing exclusion. It perpetuates inequality of opportunities. Our elitist education system is perpetuating exclusion and generating the type of violence we have recently been witnessing.
And more importantly the wake-up call for a drastic reform of the old fashioned education system mowed down by the high student/teacher ratio, low pay, students’ indiscipline, rote-learning, lack of support and respect meant it needed a total overhaul for a new dynamic education system and curriculum putting greater emphasis on teaching children to think critically and solve problems, on social and emotional learning and on basic human values and life skills .
A more holistic approach would have provided novel ways of tackling the indiscipline in schools. Educating a child should be holistic not just a process of stuffing their head with information. We have to see the needs for complete development because body and mind are linked .
While the NICE program focuses heavily on civic duty, patriotism, and nation-building, a student cannot fully engage with civic responsibilities if they lack the foundational socio-emotional tools to handle conflict or feel safe at school.Some educators do argue that the specific areas mentioned above are actually the essential building blocks for the overarching goals of a program like NICE.
๐ฆ๐ฒ๐น๐ณ-๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐: This is the foundation of civic responsibility. A student who respects themselves is far more likely to respect their peers, their community, and the laws of their country.
๐๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ & ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ณ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: These are not just personal safety skills; they are democratic skills. A peaceful society relies on citizens who can disagree, debate, and resolve tensions without resorting to violence.
๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐บ-๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด: Teaching youth how to navigate personal and social challenges constructively prevents the frustration that often boils over into schoolyard bullying.
๐๐ผ๐ป๐ณ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป Teaching mediation and peer-to-peer communication, giving students non-violent alternatives to settle disputes.
The most effective approach for Mauritius right now might be integrating socio-emotional learning (SEL) directly into the core curriculum. By embedding anger management and conflict resolution into daily school life, the education system can address the immediate crisis of bullying while still preparing youth to be responsible citizens in the long run.
