In his speech yesterday at the opening of a workshop on "Building local capacity for effective instruction in Zones d'Education Prioritaires (ZEP) primary schools" at the Mauritius Institute of Education,  Mr Dharam Gokhool pointed out that the ongoing reform initiatives in the education sector encompass the re-organisation of the educational administration at the national level, curriculum renewal, the School IT project in primary schools, the renewal of the curriculum and the production of a national Primary curriculum framework.

He recalled that for financial year 2008/2009 Government budget on education has increased by more than 8 billion rupees

"Yet in spite of all the Government's determination to improve the level of education of the children of Mauritius, the education system still has to face a number of problems and constraints which present some hurdles on the path of our ambition to achieve a world -class quality education.", the Minister said.

According to the Minister, one big problem which has been stalking the primary education sector for years is the relatively high rate of failure at the Certificate of Primary School (CPE) examinations. He said that there is a high probability that a number of children in certain specific deprived areas, will underachieve in their studies at the end of the primary cycle. This situation poses a challenge to the education community as unintentionally, the system is producing social exclusion, Mr Gokhool said.

Several initiatives have been taken to improve the conditions of life of the children attending ZEP schools.  Food is distributed and each pupil has been issued a "carnet de Santé" followed by visits from health teams from the Ministry of Health. The project also aims to improve pupil performance in lower primary classes in literacy in all ZEP schools and ultimately in all primary schools.

After this workshop, the trained teams will provide on-going training to teachers of lower primary classes in ZEP Plus schools and follow up in the classroom.  

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