BUREAU OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION
First step towards the use of Creole as a pedagogical tool

The BEC is getting ready for the implementation of Creole as a medium of instruction in some of its schools as from 2009. Many details remain to be settled but the general principle has already been accepted.

The Bureau of Catholic Education (BEC) firmly believes in the use of Creole as a pedagogical tool in primary schools, as it is the mother tongue of most Mauritians. And the best way of showing that it believes in the concept is to apply it.

This is what the BEC intends to do at the primary level. The project will include the preparation of specific books and material in Creole as well as the training of teachers and the involvement of parents.

However, the issue is a serious one and the BEC wants to take its time over implementing it. It will strive to use a scientific method and reach a consensus before going ahead. “The pre-pilot project will start in 2009,” reveals Gilberte Chung, the BEC director, for whom the use of Creole in education has become a top priority.

The project will first be applied in a few classes. After an assessment and a sociological study, it will probably then be extended to several schools in 2010. Between 2010 and 2017, the team in charge of the pilot project will do the follow-up as well as a continuous assessment of this life-sized test.

“We are still working on a few aspects of the project. For the moment, we’re involved in the early stages,”confides Jimmy Harmon, who is responsible for the project. The content of the syllabus still has to be finalised. The team in charge of the project will also have to take a decision concerning the levels where teaching will be done through Creole.

But the outline of the project is becoming clearer as the weeks go by and discussions take place. The first contacts will be established with the heads of schools this month before informing teachers and parents of any decisions

One certainty is that Creole will be introduced as a means of teaching reading, writing and counting. The persons responsible for the project believe that the learning of English and French could be done at the same time by reorganising the way languages are taught in the syllabus. The cultural fields, that is history, folklore, etc, will also be considered.

In some countries, the mother tongue is used during the whole primary cycle while it is limited to the two or three first years in others. The BEC, which runs 51 primary schools, will consult experts and linguists before taking a final decision on this issue. However, even though the experience of other countries can be used as a reference, there is no question of following their lead completely.

Without the success of the Prevokbek, it would probably not have been possible to start using Creole as a medium of instruction in primary schools. “With this project, we realised that the use of the mother tongue brings a change in the behaviour of the child at school. The pupil adapts more easily and learns more rapidly,” states Marjorie Desvaux, in charge of the Creole curriculum.

But each and everyone
will have to be convinced.
If detractors fear that using
Creole limits the sphere of the
child, the final goal
is just the opposite.

She further insists that the use of Creole in the classroom is no longer a choice but a necessity. “If we want a country where people are educated, we can’t neglect the use of the mother tongue. If we go on with the set-up of a colonised school, we can’t expect to reach the objective,” she points out. And the common goal of the nation is to have a population able to fully integrate a global world.

But each and everyone will have to be convinced. If detractors fear that using Creole limits the sphere of the child, the final goal is just the opposite. It is a matter of using the mother tongue as a bridge between the known and the unknown. “When a child is five or six years old, he or she has pre-defined concepts that he or she does not understand in other languages yet,” Marjorie Desvaux insists.

The BEC will not benefit from the support of the ministry of Education. Last 14th of April, the minister Dharam Gokhool asserted that he had declined the invitation of the BEC to work on a research-action programme for the integration of Creole in primary schools.

Bilingual assessment with Creole for the Prevokbek

After three years at the Prevokbek, 300 pupils will take part in the end of year exams. What is special is that, for the first time, Mauritian pupils will be assessed in two languages including Creole.

The initiative, which started last Saturday and will go on until the 12th of June, lies in the framework of the use of Creole as a pedagogical tool by the BEC. These pupils have been following courses with Creole as their medium of instruction for a year and the exams are the logical next step.

The pupils will have the choice between English and Creole for several subjects except for languages. They will choose between them when they sit for the exams. For instance, in the Maths paper – where there are actually two papers – section A of the first one will be in Creole. This section carries 25 marks. In section B, the pupil can choose between Creole and English. The maximum number of marks here is 50. But in the second paper, the questions will be in English. This paper carries 25 marks.

“We will see then how many answer in Creole and how many in English,” says Jimmy Harmon (picture). The results of the experiment will be analysed and used as guidelines in future developments in the schools.

Neither this examination nor the one held by the government in September will in fact affect the student’s chances of promotion to the Industrial Vocational Training Board (IVTB). In the prevocational field, which offers training for all those who have failed the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) twice, the move from the prevok to the IVTB – where they are given an additional year of training – is automatic.

Pauline ETIENNE
Article publié le Mardi 5 juin 2007, L'Express.