Mauritius country case study:
Progress in implementing
Education for Sustainable Consumption
Curriculum training workshop
Compiled by Ruhmatoolah Joorawon, Principal Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Culture,
and Human Resources
This case study accompanies case studies from Japan and from Mexico.
All three case studies have been produced voluntarily, and are used as inputs to a report by PERL - the
Partnership for Education and Research about Responsible Living.
22 April 2010
Education for Sustainable Consumption in Mauritius
Summary
With globalisation there is a growing realisation today that the size of a country is immaterial
with regard to the nature of problems; they can be as daunting as those faced by bigger
countries. Mauritius is a small island state and its vulnerabilities can be overwhelming especially
when it has no natural resources and has to depend solely on its human capital. Education and
training of its citizens is considered a key priority that will ensure development and progress. At
the same time emphasis is being laid on the quality of education as it should not only produce
a workforce to act as cogwheels in machines but enlightened and empathic individuals who can
take informed decisions about the use of resources in a manner not to jeopardise the chances
of future generations to lead a decent and comfortable life.
In line with the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation/Marrakech process, the Ministry of
Education, Culture & Human Resources is implementing the Education and Communication for
Sustainable Lifestyles Project in primary and secondary schools. The expected outcome of the
program is to develop attitudes, habits and reflexes among the youths for a more sustainable
future and the consolidation of the ‘Maurice Ile Durable’ agenda. Curriculum Guidelines for SCP
have been written and school textbooks at the Primary level have been developed with
integration of SCP concepts. The writing of teaching and learning resource materials at the
Secondary level is underway and SCP will be a cross-cutting theme in the learning experiences
of students.
Strategies and Policies
In the context of DESD, the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with UNEP has developed
a National Programme and Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) for
Mauritius 2008-2013 which obtained Cabinet approval around mid- 2008.
Education and Communication for Sustainable Lifestyles (ECSL) is one of the five priority areas
in the Action Plan and it was determined after a scoping exercise. The objective of ECSL is to
develop locally adapted education resource materials on SCP.
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The Ministry of Education, Culture and Human Resources which is responsible for the provision
of formal education and the development of curricula along with teaching and learning
resource materials has been assigned the responsibility for the implementation of the project
on ECSL.
In January this year, the Ministry of Education has published its National Curriculum Framework
for the secondary sub-sector. Education and Communication for Sustainable Lifestyles (ECSL) is
dealt with in Section 11 page 173 of the document
“This section addresses issues that cut across the curriculum. It gives an indication of
four key cross cutting issues, namely, Sustainable Development, Peace Education,
Education and Communication for Sustainable Lifestyle, Addressing HIV/AIDS. Such
issues should be taken into consideration by all curriculum writers as they should be
integrated in a number of subject areas and learning domains in the curriculum.”
In Section 11.3 page 176, the document expatiates on the scope of the content, the learning
objectives, learning outcomes, and the pedagogical approaches. (The National Curriculum
Framework may be accessed at the Ministry of Education website
http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/education)
Both the National Program and Action Plan and the National Curriculum Framework have been
developed through national consultation with all relevant stakeholders, representatives from
different Ministries, para-statal bodies, private sector, Non-Governmental Organisations and
International Agencies. The ECSL project is in line with the larger vision of the Mauritian
Government of ‘Maurice Ile Durable’ (Sustainable Mauritius). Sustainable Lifestyle is the
mantelpiece in this vision and it resonates harmoniously with the needs and aspirations of not
only policy-planners but the Mauritian population at large. Major efforts are already under way
for the achievement of this vision through the harnessing of resources and expertise in the
field.
In April 2009, the Ministry of Education, Culture & HR came up with an Action Plan to chart the
way forward towards the implementation of the ECSL project. Accordingly, a Steering
Committee was set up by the Ministry of Education and it roped in representatives from the
Ministry of Environment, academics from the University of Mauritius and the University of
Technology (Mauritius) and the Mauritius Institute of Education, the teacher training institute.
Some of these officers also form part of the Technical Committee which was assigned the task
for developing curriculum guidelines for the production of teaching and learning resource
materials for the primary and secondary schools.
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Working closely with curriculum writers of the Ministry of Education, the Technical Committee
has produced a set of guidelines for the primary schools for Year 1 to Year 6. A validation
exercise was equally held with curriculum writers and Subject Panel Coordinators in the first
week of March this year for the finalization of the document. These guidelines will assist
curriculum writers to develop textbooks for the primary schools.
Training sessions for primary school Educators are planned in the course of this year to make
them become familiar with ECSL materials.
Formal Curriculum
Before the Technical Committee started identifying competencies and skills to be developed in
the area of SCP in the context of the project, it carried out a screening exercise to survey the
SCP elements already existing in the primary school textbooks in such learning areas as
Languages (English and French), Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education, History
and Geography. The committee found that a good amount of environmental or SCP related
concepts already exist in the pupils’ workbooks or Teachers’ Resource Manual. These are dealt
with more expressly as from the lower primary level (Years IV, V & IV).
Further to the publication of the National Curriculum Framework (Primary in January 2008, the
Ministry is developing primary school textbooks in line with the new National Curriculum
Framework. The writing of textbooks for Year V was completed last year and the Technical
Committee worked with the Subject Panels to improve and make the concepts more SCP
relevant and related. This year, Year VI textbooks are being developed and will have SCP focus.
Regarding Year I, II & III, information on SCP will be provided to teachers through Teachers’
Resource Books.
The Local Environment, Awareness about the Surroundings, Awareness about Household
Consumables, Energy-saving, Costing of Toys, Safety of Toys, Making of a Craft, Awareness of
Lifecycle of Products, Impact of Products on Health, Waste Disposal, Uses and Benefits of
Recycling, Sustainable consumption Lifestyle Related to Food are some of the themes which will
be developed in the different learning areas at the different levels of primary schooling.
Regarding SCP at the Secondary schools, the Guidelines are being worked out currently by the
Technical Committee and they should be available by June 2010. These Guidelines will be in line
with the new Curriculum Framework which has been published in January this year (available
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on line at the Ministry’s website: http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/education). The writing of
new textbooks for secondary with SCP orientation should be completed by 2012.
SCP is being integrated as a cross-cutting theme in such subjects as English, French,
Mathematics, Science, History/Geography, Health & Physical Education, Social Studies, Art &
Design, etc. The curriculum is competence-based and the approach is inclusive, integrated and
holistic. Teachers adopt the participatory and experiential method of teaching based on a
variety of pedagogical approaches:
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Project work
Field trips
Debates
Role play/drama
Songs/stories/ poems
simulation
Group activities
Initiation to community service
Since the SCP themes are integrated in core subjects and electives, teachers have their regular
subject teaching periods but students also work beyond class hours on projects.
Supporting Projects
There are two major initiatives which have been put in place by the Ministry of Education since
last year. The first one is the setting up of a unit responsible for Co- and extra- Curricular
Activities. This unit advises on and monitors the implementation of activities in schools. Many
specific activities related to SCP (Waste Disposal, Plastic Bags, Composting, Energy-saving,
Consumerism, Fast Food, etc) have been implemented on a national level so far.
The second innovation concerns the introduction of co-and extra-curricular activities as a
formal area of study on the school time-table. Schools have to devote thirty minutes of their
teaching time to activities. Even after school hours at Standard IV level the Ministry has banned
private tuition and encouraged pupils to stay back at school and engage in extra-curricular
activities. This should create more space for activities related to SCP.
The Ministry of Education, Culture & HR works in close collaboration with other Ministries,
private sector, non-governmental organizations and local and international agencies on a
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number of projects and programs to make students develop positive attitudes towards the
environment and sustainable consumption. The Ministry of Environment & NDU, Ministry of
Health & Quality of Life, Ministry of Agro-Industry & Fisheries, Ministry of Women’s Rights,
Child Development, Family Welfare & Consumer Protection, Mauritius Wild Life Foundation
(MWF), Reef Conservation Mauritius (RCM) are some of the institutions the Ministry of
Education partners with. They all contribute to sensitizing students on a variety of areas which
impact on the social, political and bio-physical spheres such as marine conservation,
sustainability, pro-social values, bio-diversity, climate change, Wetlands, HIV/AIDS, alcoholism,
drugs, health care.
Some of the school-based projects are the Green School Project, School Composting Project,
School Footprint Initiative, Appui Regional à la promotion d’une education pour la gestion de
l’environment (ARPEGE), Climate Change, Wetlands Protection, Preservation and
Conservation, Poverty Alleviation, waste-disposal, land-degradation, malnutrition, energy
saving, litter on the beach, Human Rights, etc.
There are a number of success stories regarding the projects. An example is the ARPEGE
project, a regional project funded by the European Union under the 8th & 9th European
Development Fund and involving four island States of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and the
Seychelles. The project started in June 2003 and ended in December 2005. The project has
since been integrated into the curricular program at primary and secondary levels. The aims of
the project initially was to sensitize students in the age-group of 9 – 13 on environmental
concerns, produce a set of pedagogical tools to be included in a “Malle d’outils Pedagogiques”
adaptable to the educational practices in the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) member States
and train teachers in a competence-based pedagogy. The project started in 11 schools and was
extended to 48 additional schools during the funding period and later adopted by all the
schools. Students worked on projects such as malnutrition, energy-saving, litter, endemic
plants, composting, conservation of water and energy, waste recycling and waste disposal,
plastic bags in school yard, etc. A video program has been produced for teacher-training and a
whole lot of resource materials developed in areas related to SCP and sustainability in general. (
Info available on the IOC website)
Training
As at now the curriculum guidelines have been produced for the primary sub-sector and an
amount of integration has been carried out in the Standard V textbooks which have been
written last year. Curriculum developers have been inducted. Teacher-training is planned for
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this year for Standard V teachers on new textbooks in April 2010. Next year, training sessions
will be held for Standard VI teachers who will be transacting with the new curriculum and
where SCP will be integrated. These training sessions on new textbooks will be an opportunity
to induct teachers on the SCP components as they are part and parcel of the curriculum.
The training will be carried out through different modes – face to face, webcasting, and videos.
The Mauritius College of the Air, an institution operating under the aegis of the Ministry of
Education and having the mandate to produce educational programs on air will be assigned the
responsibility of making a series of video programs on SCP both for teacher-training and
awareness-raising. Already a few video programs exist on SCP.
A team of core resource persons will be trained in SCP and they will be responsible for the
training of teachers in an incremental mode. The training is planned in November/December
2010 as soon as the Technical Committee on SCP has completed its task of writing curriculum
guidelines for the secondary schools.
SCP will also be included as a module in the teacher-training pre-service courses of the
Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE) for the intention of primary and secondary school
teachers.
Teachers’ Views
In general teachers are already teaching elements of SCP in the existing curriculum. What is
required is to provide them with a more structured, content-based program of SCP embedded
into the curriculum. They are very aware of the importance of sustainability and especially
consumer education as it rhymes with the Maurice Ile Durable vision.
Teachers are also engaged in other projects related to sustainable development and SCP and
they have inspired their students to come up with issues of the latter’s interests and concerns.
More training, availability of resources and exposure will build their confidence to transact with
SCP concepts in the curriculum.
The above reflections are based not only empirical evidence but on the results of
implementation of earlier projects.
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Students’ Views
SCP as a formal curricular program has not been implemented as yet but basing on experience
acquired from previous and existing co- and extra-curricular activities, it can be affirmed that
what is of direct concern to students and where they are relevant to their daily life, they get
completely engaged. The pedagogy too adds to the interests of students.
However, Mauritius has an educational system which is examination centered and very
competitive and what is not examinable is left on the sideline by teachers. A lot will depend on
how the SCP materials will be presented in the textbooks and whether they will be examinable
or not.
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