{"id":2960,"date":"2014-07-04T06:14:51","date_gmt":"2014-07-04T06:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2014\/07\/04\/readers-response-7\/"},"modified":"2018-07-02T09:24:24","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T05:24:24","slug":"readers-response-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/readers-response-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing Circumstances"},"content":{"rendered":"
Readers’ Response<\/span> <\/span><\/h6>\n

<\/p>\n

I never miss an opportunity to have a good laugh at the jokes in Mauritius Times and at times I share them with friends because I like to see others laugh too. But a story in The Tree of Knowledge (27 June-3 July) titled \u2018Changing Circumstances\u2019 took me back to many years ago, before I was even born.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the late 40s my parents left Sebastopol to settle in Port Louis because of the climate as my father\u2019s health was not that good. They rented a tiny room in my Mawsa\u2019s house. Prior to that, they\u2019d sold their \u2018bail\u2019 and \u2018gari\u2019, or ox and cart, and left their land in Beau Champs and Bris\u00e9e Verdi\u00e8re respectively. Mawsa\u2019s younger brother was not too happy with the situation and one day he said: \u2018I don\u2019t know why Krishna has allowed Dasruth to stay here.\u2019 Then he asked my mother when they were moving out. My mum said we will go as soon as we buy a place of our own. <\/span><\/p>\n

That infuriated him and he pointed to my mum\u2019s forehead and said: \u2018Is it written on your forehead that you will become a house owner one day?\u2019 Then they moved somewhere else and later, when I was born, my mum said that now that we have a daughter, we must get a place of our own. Don\u2019t think it was that easy to buy a piece of land, which at that time cost the grand sum of Rs 800 when it should have been Rs 500. Then the place had to be rid of all the \u2018raquettes\u2019 and \u2018piquant loulou\u2019 before they erected a \u2018la case dibois ek feuille drome\u2019, as corrugated iron sheets were expensive. That became their \u2018palace\u2019 and soon after my mother become a widow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Years later when I started working, we built a small concrete house. In those days this was a big thing. By then that man\u2019s daughter had grown up and got married. As they couldn\u2019t find a suitable place to live, for the boys\u2019 parents were against the union, my other half agreed to rent the upper floor at a reasonable price. When a baby boy was born, Aja would come daily to play with the baby and a daughter followed later. They stayed for five years until they moved to their own house. They were good though.<\/span><\/p>\n

As my mum was never a vindictive person, she said let bygones be bygones when we asked her if the place could be rented to so and so. I teased her and said: \u2018To ti locataire, astere to fine vine proprietaire.\u2019 She was not educated but she was wise and I envied her wisdom. And she said never laugh at someone\u2019s poverty or financial situation for a rich person today can become a pauper tomorrow.<\/span><\/p>\n

This taught me that at any time one\u2019s life can topple like a deck of cards. One\u2019s fate is not written in the palm of one\u2019s hand – and even less on one\u2019s forehead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mona. R. Babajee<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

* * *<\/span><\/p>\n

Education \u2013 Rem\u00e8des contre l\u2019absent\u00e9isme<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Le Dr Vasant Bunwaree, ministre de l\u2019Education, est un homme sympathique et performant. J\u2019ai appr\u00e9ci\u00e9 ses grandes qualit\u00e9s en maintes occasions et j\u2019admire son sens de d\u00e9vouement au travail. Certes, il n\u2019a pas la m\u00eame \u00e9loquence que d\u2019autres pour mater effectivement ses d\u00e9tracteurs. Mais il est, sans aucun doute, un travailleur infatigable, sans pour autant, parvenir \u00e0 r\u00e9soudre tous les probl\u00e8mes de l\u2019\u00e9ducation, dont certains sont tr\u00e8s graves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prenons, par exemple, le probl\u00e8me de l\u2019absent\u00e9isme au niveau secondaire, particuli\u00e8rement en HSC. C\u2019est facile de parler d\u2019action disciplinaire contre les \u00e9tudiants mais cette mesure ne fera rien pour extirper le mal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mais quelles sont les raisons de l\u2019absent\u00e9isme abusif, vous demanderez-vous ?<\/span><\/p>\n

Premi\u00e8rement, beaucoup d\u2019enseignants du HSC ne font que le strict minimum en classe pendant toute une journ\u00e9e, \u00e0 part quelques exceptions pendant une ou deux p\u00e9riodes une fois la semaine. Pourtant ce sont des gens grassement pay\u00e9s des fonds publics, ayant b\u00e9n\u00e9fici\u00e9 de substantielles augmentations de salaires, comparativement aux autres employ\u00e9s de l\u2019Etat. En sus de cela, ils b\u00e9n\u00e9ficient de beaucoup de cong\u00e9s, de \u2018school holidays\u2019, de Teacher\u2019s Day, de Sports Day, de Music Day, etc., que les autres employ\u00e9s tr\u00e8s m\u00e9ritants n\u2019ont pas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Par ailleurs, bon nombre d\u2019entre eux ont droit \u00e0 d\u2019\u00e9normes revenus additionnels sous forme de le\u00e7ons priv\u00e9es. Je connais des fonctionnaires du secteur public qui se sont tu\u00e9s (le mot n\u2019est pas fort) au travail, travaillant jusqu\u2019\u00e0 deux heures du matin r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement, mais qui n\u2019ont rien eu comme r\u00e9compense, m\u00eame pas une petite d\u00e9coration ! Vous tous, vous connaissez la grande politique entourant l\u2019octroi de la plupart des d\u00e9corations, n\u2019est-ce pas ?<\/span><\/p>\n

Beaucoup de ces enseignants n\u00e9gligent le travail en classe pour se concentrer sur le \u2018business\u2019 des le\u00e7ons particuli\u00e8res. Pourquoi donc aller perdre son temps en classe ? se demande l\u2019\u00e9tudiant. Les parents qui sont parfaitement au courant de cette situation ne font, avec raison, aucune pression sur leurs enfants pour qu\u2019ils se rendent \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9cole. Comment donc bl\u00e2mer les parents et les enfants en ces circonstances ?<\/span><\/p>\n

Deuxi\u00e8mement, il y a un facteur non-n\u00e9gligeable : l\u2019\u00e9ducation gratuite. On sait que tout ce qui est gratuit est consid\u00e9r\u00e9, bien souvent, comme quantit\u00e9 n\u00e9gligeable. Le pain gratuit qu\u2019on donne \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9cole sert dans beaucoup de cas principalement \u00e0 grossir les chiens et autres animaux, tandis que les pains qu\u2019on ach\u00e8te sont consomm\u00e9s judicieusement.<\/span><\/p>\n

La politique des pays donateurs de financer en partie seulement les projets des pays b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaires et de laisser \u00e0 ces derniers la responsabilit\u00e9 de financer le reste est certainement dict\u00e9e par la consid\u00e9ration que tout ce qui est gratuit a tendance \u00e0 \u00eatre dilapid\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Donc, n\u2019est-il pas grand temps de consid\u00e9rer l\u2019opportunit\u00e9 d\u2019introduire un syst\u00e8me de paiement partiel de scolarit\u00e9 (HSC seulement) par les parents, disons Rs 200 mensuellement. Cela pourrait, a priori, choquer dans le contexte mauricien, mais cette mesure aurait un double effet :<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 encourager les professeurs \u00e0 travailler parce qu\u2019ils r\u00e9aliseront qu\u2019ils re\u00e7oivent une partie de leur salaire de l\u2019argent pay\u00e9 par les parents ;<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 les \u00e9tudiants, sachant qu\u2019ils payent pour leur \u00e9ducation, marqueront leur pr\u00e9sence r\u00e9guli\u00e8re en classe. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 pour combattre davantage l\u2019absent\u00e9isme n\u00e9faste, on pourrait consid\u00e9rer le remboursement des frais de scolarit\u00e9 des \u00e9tudiants qui n\u2019auraient pas plus de 12 jours d\u2019absence par an.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chaque parent d\u2019\u00e9tudiant de HSC, tout le monde le sait d\u00e9pense entre Rs 3000 \u00e0 Rs 5000 mensuellement pour les le\u00e7ons particuli\u00e8res d\u2019un enfant. Donc, payer Rs 200 de scolarit\u00e9 par mois n\u2019est que la moindre des choses, n\u2019est-ce pas ?<\/span><\/p>\n

Il ne faut pas sous-estimer le danger que repr\u00e9sente l\u2019\u00e9cole buissonni\u00e8re pour les \u00e9tudiants qui s\u2019y adonnent en termes de pratiques r\u00e9pr\u00e9hensibles telles que vagabondage au bord de la mer, rendez-vous secrets dans un restaurant ou une salle de cin\u00e9ma, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

DS Ruttun
\n<\/strong><\/span>Ancien Directeur \u2013 Secteur Public<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 4 July 2014<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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