Mr Snelling and French

Mauritius Times – 70 Years

Editorial

Mr Snelling is an expert in education who has come over here to help reorganise our educational system. We have been assured that he has come at the special request of Mr Beejadhur, the education minister, who is sparing no effort to improve our education. All this is well and Mr Beejadhur knows that in the stupendous task to which he has addressed himself he has the unanimous support of the country. But now it looks as if that Mr Beejadhur will no more be entitled to that unanimous support. We hear that Mr Snelling is going to recommend that French be adopted as the universal medium of teaching. At this stage it is difficult to know for sure what both Mr Beejadhur and Mr Snelling feel about this subject, but in the event that what we hear is true they both must be careful.

Apparently Mr Snelling ignores the fact that this place is a British colony where English is language number ONE and must remain as such. He seems also not to realize that besides the French-speaking people there are others — the majority of the population — who want to exercise their basic rights in so far as the study of their mother tongue is concerned. We have the impression that Mr Snelling ought to be advised on how to advise the Education Ministry! Moreover, does Mr Snelling know that the question of imposing French indiscriminately on all pupils has long been debated. We take it that Mr Snelling is not well informed about the situation or maybe he has been misinformed. Let us clarify the position for his sake.

We have always held and still hold that no child should be overburdened with the study of too many languages. At the same time, we maintain that children of Indian origin have the incontrovertible right to study their mother-tongue. And we want it to be known that no expert, however big and whether he comes from Kamchatka or London, will have any right to tamper with this basic and sacred right. Therefore, we have suggested that the medium of teaching should be English, which is the official language of the country, to support our argument we pointed out that in the Oversea examinations — in fact, the examinations which really matter — all papers are set in English; even the French paper is set in English! (Does Mr Snelling know this?). For the competitive examinations we want English to be compulsory and all the other languages optional. Is this attitude not fair and reasonable?

But no! Some people who are more concerned with the political aspect of the question try to make people believe that we are against the French language, that we want to destroy the French language, that we are extremists, nationalists and what not. We are sure that Mr Snelling will come across self-appointed Indian leaders who are in favour of French being the medium of teaching but let Mr Snelling know that these people are more concerned with demagogy than with pedagogy. Mr Snelling should guard himself against such people and their opinions. No one is against French in this place; nor is there anyone who wants to destroy it. What in fact we want is to preserve and promote Oriental languages. We want children of Indian origin to have the opportunity of learning their languages properly just as we want the children of the French-speaking section of the population to learn the language dear to them. Consequently, Mr Selling must be careful.

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 Special (Mobile) Force

On the adjournment of the Legislative Council on the 21st June, Hon Delaitre raised the question of the discharge of recruits from the Special (Mobile) Force.

The matter was further taken up by Hons. Govinden and Ramlallah who said that the Colonial Secretary (CS) should make a declaration in that connection.

Eight recruits were discharged after three months of training. In a note which was handed over to them it was simply said that they have to quit the Force; no reason for the discharge was given. That has created some uneasiness among the parents of the recruits and among a lot of other people.

Any sensible Mauritian would agree that especially at the initial stage of the formation of a Force which might be called to establish law and order and to deal with destructive forces, it is of paramount importance that we should have a thoroughly efficient Force.

It is not a new thing that recruits who have undergone some training are ultimately found unsuitable for the Police, Military, Air or Naval Force. That happens in the world over and it has happened in Mauritius too. In the Mauritius Territorial Force that was of some frequent occurrence. We don’t know whether that happened in the Police Force with recruits who were selected by the Police Selection Board,

The selection of recruits for the Special (Mobile) Force and even for the Police is now made by the Police Service Commission. We would not like the impression to be created that the Police Service Commission is incapable of selecting suitable candidates.

We repeat that we need a thoroughly efficient and up-to-date Force of which all Mauritians can be proud. Recruits who can’t raise themselves up to the minimum standard required should be ordered to quit. But we would have liked to know much more in what circumstances these boys were chucked out. The statement of the CS which we publish elsewhere does not say enough to clear our doubts. In what subjects did these recruits fail? If they failed, were they given another trial? The Colonial Secretary seems to accept the statement made by Mr Delaître that in some cases recruits who failed were allowed to continue their training.

Now there is another thing connected with the duties of the Special (Mobile) Force which is not quite clear. Is not that Force meant to replace the Garrison? If yes, what has it to do with the Police Department? Throughout the world there is a clear distinction between the Garrison and the Police. Of course, we would not like the Special (Mobile) Force to idle in barracks. They must be given something worthwhile to do. But we would not like to see them assume the duties of policemen and detailed to patrol the streets in normal times. They can obviously help in special circumstances, viz, on race days, during festivals or whenever extra policemen are required. In India soldiers are constantly employed. They build their own barracks and do a lot of useful things.

7th Year – No 306
Friday 8th July 1960

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