Educational Comparisons

From Our Archives: A Glimpse into 1960

By Peter Ibbotson

As I showed in a recent article, the great expansion in educational facilities in Mauritius has taken place since the rise of the Labour Party to a dominant place in the Legislative Council. Guiding the destiny of Mauritian education over the last ten years have been two outstanding Labour leaders: first, Dr Ramgoolam as Liaison Officer, then Mr Beejadhur as Minister of Education. Both brought to their task a real love of education, and the desire to ensure that every child had a square educational deal and a fair chance all during his school life. For both Dr Ramgoolam and Mr Beejadhur, only the best is good enough for their departments; it is instructive, therefore, to examine the educational records of other colonies besides Mauritius to see how Mauritius compares, educationally, with the others.

Some time ago I was able, thanks to a UNESCO report, to demonstrate the difference between Mauritius and its sister-isle of Reunion as far as educational facilities and opportunities were concerned. In this comparison, Reunion came off very badly. Thanks to the Colonial Office, it is possible to compare the educational provision in every colony; this comparison, too, shows that Mauritius is one of the most advanced colonies, educationally speaking.

Primary education is not yet compulsory in Mauritius; it is compulsory in fact, in only six colonial territories: Bermuda, Dominica, Gibraltar, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, St Kitts-Nevis and Tonga. There are, however, another six territories where all, or almost all, children of primary school age do in fact attend school; and Mauritius is one of these.

The other five are Bahamas, British Guiana, British Honduras, Brunei, and Malta. In Antigua, Barbados, Fiji, Montserrat, St Lucia, St Vincent, Seychelles, Trinidad and the Virgin Islands, over 90 per cent of the children of primary school age attend school; the actual percentages ranging from 99 in St Vincent down to 91 in Seychelles and Trinidad.

The lowest attendances are found in Sierra Leone and Gambia where less than one child in five of primary school age is enrolled at school.

The high primary school enrolments are in most cases accompanied by high secondary school enrolments as well. Only Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda and Malta have secondary school enrolments (expressed as percentages of those of secondary school age) higher than Mauritius; those colonies, such as Brunei and Tonga, where high primary school enrolments are accompanied by low school enrolments are territories where the provision of secondary education is a new thing and is being expanded.

The West Indian territories, of course, have high primary school enrolments, and their secondary school provision is topped by facilities for higher education at the University College of the West Indies, whereas students from Mauritius have to go to Great Britain, India, Ireland or France for their higher education at university level. It is undeniable that the establishment of the University College of the West Indies has given a great impetus to the development of secondary education there; and the development of secondary education has helped also the development of primary education.

Many people in Mauritius — and I share their belief — believe that the establishment of a University College of Mauritius, with arts, science and medical faculties (the science faculty to include tropical agriculture), would do nothing but good for the further development of education in Mauritius.

The table which follows shows the estimated percentage of children of school age who in 1959 were attending schools in each colony. The first column refers to primary schools; the second column to secondary schools. I have arranged the colonies in descending order of percentage primary school enrolment.

It should be noted that the figures for Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland refer to African enrolment only.

Some years ago, when universal adult suffrage for Mauritius was being discussed, M. Koenig said that he didn’t favour it until the standard of education had been raised. The same sort of argument is now being adduced against self-government for Mauritius. It is, however, abundantly clear from the figures given above that educationally there is nothing against internal self-government for Mauritius.

Already the island has a higher percentage school enrolment than many colonies who have achieved or have been promised self-government. Educationally, Mauritius leads Jamaica, Trinidad and Sierra Leone; why should Mauritius, therefore, lag behind them politically and constitutionally?

Mauritius Times – 60 Years
7th Year – No 327

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 13 February 2026