The central argument in U. Bissoondoyal’s article (1967)1 concerned the validity of the SC English Language examination. He questioned whether the examination would be relevant to meet the learning needs and abilities of students in post-independence Mauritius. He argued that the English paper was not meant for the foreign learners of English. He also raised the wider issue of whether the examination would adequately reflect the linguistic, cultural and educational realities of Mauritian society.
His critique needs careful historical consideration. Secondary education has changed in its relationship with English Language since Independence. English has remained a medium of instruction and a compulsory language for examinations. It is the official language in government administration, the judiciary and the rules and regulations governing the National Assembly. It is widely accepted in private sector employment. Globalisation has greatly increased its economic and international importance. Therefore, the question is not whether English is relevant to education in Mauritius. Such a debate appears increasingly obsolete and would be difficult to sustain today. Examination data to undertake research and development in English Language assessment have been made available to inform policy-makers and the public. The Data Processing Section of the MES provides examination statistics. Post-examination analyses of anonymised candidates’ scripts have made it possible for Cambridge to produce detailed examination reports, when required by schools.
After the setting up of the Secondary School Examination Committee (SSEC) in July 1985, the Secondary School Examination Subject Advisory Committee (SSESAC) for English held its first meeting in August 1985. The advisory committee included representatives from the MES, MIE, Ministry, Unions of teachers, the PSSA, and the inspectorate, as well as teachers of English from state and private secondary schools. It started to look into aspects of the syllabus and question papers to analyse the performance of candidates and make recommendations to the MES.
The trend in performance in English at SC Level
The trend in performance from the 1970s to the early 2020 shows an increase in the pass rate in a context of an increasing number of students sitting for the SC Examinations. Initiatives and policy decisions taken by the Ministry under various governments have been implemented by the MES and secondary schools with the collaboration of UCLES/CIE (now CAIE) to raise the learning outcomes of students. In 1983, 42% out of a total of 14,123 students of Form V passed the SC English examination. Only 16% obtained a credit (grades 1 to 6), that is a ‘satisfactory grade’ in the subject. The setting up of the MES in 1984 would spur the necessary impetus for change: English Language Mauritius Syllabus 1125 and English as a second/foreign language syllabus 1126(the latter did not gain the same consideration by schools). In 1992, the pass rate reached 63%. However, most candidates did not obtain a satisfactory grade. Since 1992, the MES has actively sought the collaboration of major stakeholders such as the Ministry, academics, researchers and teachers and UCLES/CIE (now CAIE) to raise the standards of performance in English examination.
The pass rate of school candidates in the subject has reached 84.72 % in 2025 despite the decline in the SC pass rate (69.28%). The % of candidates obtaining a credit, that is, grades 1 to 6, was 54.07%, beyond the threshold of 50%. It should no longer be argued that English Language examination continues to be the main cause of failures and lower educational attainments at the SC/O Level. The problem is more complex. The challenge is how to address the learning difficulties of the 37.56% of candidates who obtain a pass grade (7 or 8) and those whose scores are ungraded. But a clear language policy from pre-primary and primary levels to the upper secondary level should certainly aim at enhancing comprehension skills and tackling the issue of ‘language uncertainty and security’. Adequate levels of investment in teacher professional development will definitely increase the overall literacy levels in English.
English remains relevant but how does the examination test English proficiency?
The issue of validity is crucial when we seek to answer this question. In 1967, U. Bissoondoyal referred to the specimen Certificate of Secondary Education English paper. The first task asked candidates to write with one option being: “My career”. The candidate was expected to discuss the chosen career, the job, the industry/profession, qualifications, promotion prospects and what was thought to be attractive about the career. This was already a more functional and vocationally oriented task compared to the one in the English Paper taken by students in Mauritius at that time. The second task asked students to extract the main points from a passage and put them into their own words. The traditional précis writing was in fact too demanding. It required students to read with understanding a long passage and to reduce it to one third of its length! The new tasks would be meaningful because they required students to use language for a purpose rather than simply demonstrate mastery of an examination technique, raising thereby the question of fairness and equity. The analytical use of language that U. Bissoondoyal advocated has increasingly become part of modern English assessment. His arguments were not to make English easier but rather to change what English Language assessment was really intended to measure.
In 1988, the level of difficulty of the papers and the marking by UCLES was scrutinised. Students who got very good and credit grades in other subjects scored grade 8 or 9 in English. In 1989, UCLES considered the development of a new English syllabus together with new specimen question papers. Over the years, the Mauritius English Language syllabus (1125), aligned with the IGCSE international syllabus, has evolved. The present syllabus places emphasis on communicating clearly, accurately and effectively; using vocabulary, grammar, spelling and punctuation appropriately; developing awareness of audience; developing analytical and communication skills such as inference and the organisation of facts and opinions.2
Has the examination become more relevant to the needs and diversity of learners in Mauritius?
The English examination provides a range of reading and writing tasks. Reading for ideas and reading for meaning are two separate tasks in Paper 2. Oral English has become one component of the examination since 1996, making up 12% of the total mark.2
Summary writing has replaced précis writing. It is part of the assessment which includes directed writing and a wider range of communicative purposes. Cambridge describes the revised examination as involving substantial changes in the style, format and content of both Reading and Writing papers. This suggests that the English examination has moved, at least in its stated objectives, towards a broader conception of literacy. The candidate is no longer simply expected to demonstrate that he or she knows English grammar and can reproduce conventional forms. The candidate must interpret, select, organise, communicate and adapt language to purpose and audience.
- Bissoondoyal warned that changing examination formats and questions does not necessarily change classroom practice. If teachers teach primarily through past papers, model answers and text memorisation, the examination designed to promote communication and analytical skills as well as creative writing cannot fulfil its objectives. Another of Bissoondoyal’s concerns was that education should prepare young people to understand the world in which they actually live. Since independence, education in Mauritius aims at forging a strong sense of national identity through the combined study of Mauritian history, geography, society and culture at lower secondary. The educational landscape is also far more internationally connected. English is no longer to be considered as the language of a former colonial power. It has become a language of global communication, higher education, science and technology, travel and tourism, international and cross-border business and employment. Consequently, the contemporary challenge is not whether Mauritius should learn English, but what kind of English education Mauritian learners need for the twenty-first century.
- Bissoondoyal’s most thoughtful statement was that the true purpose of education is to develop “an enquiring mind”, the ability to analyse new problems and the willingness to enter the unknown. Curriculum and pedagogy have to become drivers of educational change and no longer continue to be shaped by assessment requirements. In other words, examination reform must be accompanied by pedagogical reform. From U Bissoondoyal’s critical analysis, English papers were an inherited examination designed for a different educational and cultural context. English assessment has moved towards greater emphasis on communication, analysis and purposeful language use. Yet, the journey is not completed, its promises not fulfilled. The challenge for the future is to ensure that assessment rewards the qualities that education genuinely seeks to develop: curiosity (an enquiring mind), critical thinking, communication, creativity, adaptability and the capacity to deal with unfamiliar situations.
In this sense, U. Bissoondoyal’s 1967 critique remains valuable: does our system of assessment prepare our young people for the world they are entering today? Are we moving confidently from the “education for yesterday” that he rightly criticised towards the “education for tomorrow” that he envisioned?
(The end)
Cadresse Armoogum
Retired as Senior Research &
Development
Officer MES
Notes and references:
- Education for Yesterday. The School Certificate. Uttam Bissoondoyal, Le Mauricien, Wednesday 27 September 1967.
- Mauritius English Language syllabus 1125, page 7, MES web site.
