The starting point of this article is a seminal paper published by late Professor Uttam Bissoondoyal1, respected academic scholar and intellectual in modern Mauritius.

In 1967, on the eve of independence, Uttam Bissoondoyal published a provocative critique of secondary education “Education for Yesterday: The School Certificate.” In this article, he questioned not only the structure of the Cambridge School Certificate (SC) examination but also the educational philosophy underlying it. For U. Bissoondoyal, the central problem was that examinations had become so powerful that they determined what schools taught, how teachers taught and what forms of knowledge were valued. Nearly sixty years later, his arguments still provide a valuable framework for assessing the quality of secondary education provided by the SC Examination and the particular place of English Language within that qualification.

1. Bissoondoyal’s fundamental concern was the dominance of the examinations over education. He argued that teaching which was centred on past examination papers had come to be regarded as education itself. Examinations were so conservative that teachers had little incentive to reconsider their methods of teaching. The “examinable part”, that is the assessment scheme, of the School Certificate syllabus had become the effective curriculum because it was the part that mattered most to teachers, schools and educational authorities.  Beyond examination policy and practice, U. Bissoondoyal was challenging an entire educational culture in which success in examinations had become the principal measure of educational achievements. How far has this educational paradigm shifted over the years?
2. 

This issue remains relevant today despite enormous positive changes in our education system since 1967. Secondary education has expanded considerably, educational opportunities have become more widely available, curricula have diversified and new national assessment structures have been designed and re-designed. The CPE Examination (now PSAC) was implemented since the 1980s. The National Certificate of Education (NCE) which was introduced at the end of grade 9 in the context of the Nine Year Continuous Basic Education, has been designed within the national secondary assessment framework, alongside the Cambridge SC/GCE O Level system. Up to now, the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate maintains a separate dual structure for the Cambridge SC Examination and the National School Certificate (NSC) award of the UoM, on the one hand, and the NCE after the phasing out of the Extended Stream Programme by the Ministry of education, on the other hand. 

From a selective examination for the élite to an effective secondary education opened to all 

In 1967, the School Certificate operated within a relatively selective secondary education system. U. Bissoondoyal was particularly concerned that the examination was being used as an instrument of selection rather than as a meaningful record of the achievements of all adolescents. He questioned the exclusion and sad fate of students who did not obtain the required combination of passes and labelled as ‘failures’, even when they had demonstrated achievement in several subjects. He deplored the conservative nature of examinations and their negative washback effect on teaching:

“Examinations have a certain obsolescence which is the despair of educationists everywhere. They have become notorious for their conservatism, which every report on education in recent years have deplored. Change, provided it is in the right direction, ought to be one of the underlying principles of educational planning. It prevents the fossilization of a system on which rest the realizable dreams of nation-builders. For too long a method of teaching, based on past papers and centred on examinations, has passed for education. When examinations do not change, teachers rarely see the need for reappraisal and change. Even in England change has been slow to come. A Report on Secondary Education complained that the pattern of examinations in English has remained virtually unchanged for many years, making it difficult to introduce newer methods of teaching and learning. There are however many pressure groups which act as watchdog bodies. An Advisory Committee for Education – free from government control – can do much in this country, provided it has the right people sitting on it. It is true that there have been many laudable changes in the past three or four years, and it is understandable that, as so little has been done in the past, the task of the Ministry should be so difficult now. However, so long as educational statistics (1) are not available, any planning can be only of an administrative nature, and will not affect education as such.” (U Bissoondoyal, September 27/09/1967), claiming that this is not an education for to-morrow, but for the past.

Such a powerful critique has to be understood and reviewed in the light of new initiatives in the Ministry-Cambridge partnerships in a context of  the subsequent expansion of secondary education in Mauritius. But it provided the insight and impetus needed for change. U Bissoondoyal’s views reminded of the need for greater diversification as proposed in a report by renowned educationist Frank Richard at that time: 

“The School Certificate Syllabus leaves a host of subjects unmentioned, and has been allowed to dictate curriculum (the examinable part …the only part of interest to our teachers) in our schools. It has also been dictating the type of school we should have. Barring the attempt to diversify the education at John Kennedy College, all our schools are of the grammar-school type. The Richard Report has seen the need for a greater diversification, but it may be like a voice crying in the wilderness. Skills and aptitudes, other than academic, are neglected for the sole reason that they are not examined.” (U Bissoondoyal, September 27/09/1967)

After Independence, access to free secondary education in 1977, provision of a range of commercial, humanities and technical syllabuses, and the construction of many state colleges in the  1970s and 2000s, have offered wider opportunities to students at the SC Level.  Major institutions such as the Mauritius Institute of Education (1973) and the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate (1984) have contributed largely to teacher professional development in curriculum, pedagogy and the understanding of both teaching and examination syllabuses. The inputs and views of the academic and technical staff of these two institutions remain critical to inform and shape educational reforms policies in order to raise standards in teaching and educational outcomes.

Thirty years later, and 20 years after free secondary education, one IMF Report (1997) mentioned that “Since independence in 1968, Mauritius has made considerable progress in its education system, particularly in the area of basic education”. It stated that “the pass rates for the SC Examinations show considerable variation between the majority of private and religious schools, on the one hand, and the minority government schools, on the other, which tend to have better facilities including laboratories and libraries and also teachers with university degrees, 57% against 19%.”

Still, much had to be done to improve the standards in all secondary education institutions. 

In 1993, the SC pass rate was 64% and in 1995, 71%. This was also attributable to the better performance of private and religious schools.  For the years 2009 and 2010, it reached 77.6 % and 77.8 % respectively, indicating relatively consistent performance. The educational reforms in the 2000s contributed further to improve the pass rate. For the period 2010-2020, the pass rates commonly ranged from high-70 % to mid-80 %, influenced by examination policy and external factors (e.g., COVID-19 adjustments). After 2022, the 2020s seem to be facing drops in the pass rates in a significant way from the 75-80 % range to the 65-75 % range. 

  The pass rate reached a peak in 2006 with 78.86 students obtaining the SC.  But afterwards, there has been a general decline in the overall performance of candidates (except for a few years and the COVID years). In the Cambridge SC October-November 2025 Examinations the pass rate was 69.28%, a decrease of 3.37% compared to 72.5% in 2024. Out of 11,735 candidates who sat for the examinations, 8,130 were successful. 59% (6,923 candidates) obtained at least three credits. For Mauritius, the overall pass rate was 70.18% compared to 73.25% in 2024. In Rodrigues, the decline was more dramatic with a pass rate of 55.70% out of a total of 702 candidates. In 2024, it was 64.21%.  In Agalega, none of the five candidates, three boys and two girls, passed the SC.

The question is therefore not simply whether the SC has to become easier or harder, but whether its purpose and structure are adapting coherently to the diversity of learners entering secondary education. Bissoondoyal’s criticism of the “group certificate” is especially significant in this context. He argued that a student who succeeded in several subjects but failed to obtain the prescribed combination could nevertheless be labelled a failure. His concern was that the system measured students against an abstract idea of “all-round excellence” rather than recognising different abilities and aspirations. Contemporary educational reforms, including the CPE/PSAC, the NCE and greater attention to different pathways and forms of learning, can be interpreted partly as responses to this longstanding problem. For example, the number of credits to be promoted to grade 11 and study for the HSC has been reviewed by various governments. The fragmented and piece-meal approach to education reforms and the unsolved issue of 5 credits at SC including English, French and Mathematics as a requirement to qualify for a white-collar job in the civil service should be re-examined. However, performance was encouraging for the Cambridge Technology Education award, which was offered to a first cohort of 69 candidates. The rolling out of such a project should be carefully planned. The pass rate was 94.2%. The HSC Professional qualification and the creation of the Polytechnics offered new pathways for students to enter the world of work.

(End of Part I)

Part II will focus on the English Language Education and the SC

Reference:

Education for Yesterday. The School Certificate. Uttama Bissoondoyal, Le Mauricien, Wednesday 27 September 1967.   

Note:

Based on the traditional Cambridge School Certificate (SC) grading system, UCLES adopted the British model of class division for the overall quality of a candidate’s pass in the School Certificate/O-Level exams. These divisions—1st, 2nd, and 3rd—represented the level of success, usually defined by the total aggregate of credits/grades obtained in the 6 best subjects. Class 1 Division (First Class) was recognition of high achievement. Class 2 Division (Second Class) was an intermediate level, a good pass, indicating that the student has performed well overall with combination of credits and some passes. Class 3 Division (Third Class) was a basic pass. It represented a lower-level achievement where the student is awarded the SC with the minimum credit requirement and with a higher aggregate score. These divisions historically helped to distinguish the level of achievement for university entrance, scholarships, or employment eligibility. While the divisions represent the historical classification, the present system of award is based on current results reported with A*-E grades and aggregate scores, with the focus on the number of credits since the policy for admission in Lower VI is based on this consideration. In the 1990s, the MES and CIE had worked in close collaboration to move from the numerical grades to the alphabetical grades with clear descriptors of achievement for each individual O Level/SC syllabus.

Cadresse Armoogum

Retired as  Senior

Research & Development Officer MES