Speech of Hon. V. Bunwaree, Minister of Education, Culture and
Human Resources, at the 2nd International Education Research
Conference on ‘Education for Democracy, Citizenship &
Sustainable Development in Small Island States and Countries of
the Indian Ocean’.
It gives me great pleasure to associate myself with you on this occasion
of the second international education research conference on a theme
that is not only topical but that also contains secrets for the future of the
world.
Let me welcome warmly all those enlightened scholars, Professor
Jugdish Gundara, Professor
Michael Samuel, Professor Michel
Latchoumanin, Professor V. S. Prasad who have come to Mauritius to
guide us in our deliberations.
I welcome all the distinguished
representatives from the Indian Ocean Islands. Ladies and Gentlemen, I
wish you all a happy welcome and a happy stay. I am convinced that
your convictions and your deliberations will guide us to shape the course
of action we shall take at a time when we still start our curriculum
reforms at the secondary level.
Climate threats, the economic downturn in the world upon which small
island states depend, threats of coastal erosion, their dependence
resulting from the interconnections of the world have jeopardized the fate
of islanders. The Tsunami has left a bitter memory of our helplessness.
We have decided not to be subdued by the cataclysm of nature but to
stand on our feet, duly tutored by experience. Island States more than
ever realize that globalization challenges their survival and that their
future lies in making their economy resilient to change. That is why
island states realize how crucial education is for the survival of their
citizens. Colonization has marked the first few years of independent
island states; that is why their education systems have tended to imitate
that of their colonizers. But today we are aware of our specificities and
we have the power to decide what will help our children to assume their
rightful place in the world of cut throat competition where very often the
rhetoric of powerful countries is not followed by wise action. Nowhere
more than in matters relating to environment has this reflection been
more valid. We have had the advantage of living in a plural society
because Mauritius is a land of migrants. The diversity of our population
is the very cradle of our democracy. We grow up to live with the
difference of the other. Since the emergence of a new world economic
order following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the weakening of Communism
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and the consequent reinforcement of global capitalism till the recent
recession democracy has promoted pluralism and small island states
like Mauritius know this reality since the inception of nationhood.
Interethnic relationships, intercultural encounters give to democracy a
strength of its own. Reforms in education must prepare the individual for
tolerance, which needs to be defined as a positive, affirmative
acceptance of difference towards participation in the identity of the
neighbourg. The class becomes the platform which resolves the tension
between family values and those of the democratic state. What happens
in cases where parents strongly object to activities that appear to erode
strongly held beliefs? In fact the teacher is not here to oppose the family
values to those of the democratic state. Apart from his own family
culture the child must be made to engage in one way or another with a
multiplicity of value positions. That is how pluralism can be reflected in
the class. In fact, the overriding aim of citizenship education is to
develop morally autonomous citizens who can think critically and
contribute positively to public discourse.
It places value on personal
development and individual integrity and recognition that the highest
from of civic motivation is that which arises from principled commitment
rather than coercion or persuasion. Let us understand that education for
democracy and citizenship should expose the child to the value conflict
that characterizes modern life.
It is not enough that the child should be loyal to the state or the
community. Should citizenship education adopt a model that places
national allegiance above justice, truth or universal human rights? No
doubt, secularism will demand that state systems should teach
citizenship education irrespective of the presence of religious education.
The classroom discussion should become genuine ‘democratic dialogue’
where opinions and propositions are judged on the basis of the authority
claimed for them, but on their intrinsic merits. But the child must also be
educated to pay serious attention to the religious point of view because it
constitutes a moral stand.
It is a happy coincidence that this debate is taking place when Mauritius
stands at the crossroads of a new era of curriculum reform at secondary
level. The National Curriculum Framework chooses as one of its
overarching learning outcomes the fact that students will interact with
others from diverse cultures, develop pride in our nation and recognize
that everyone has to feel valued and safe. Students should also express
their respect for people, plants animals and resources through informed
and responsible choices as consumers and providers. Mauritius is
working on a project ‘Maurice, Ile Durable and is the first country to
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proclaim sustainability as the main tenet of its development. Should the
global food crisis, should the global recession remind us that our natural
resources are scarcity and that we cannot exploit them at an exponential
rate? The energy crisis and its impact on our financial stability are
reminders of the imperious need for sustainable consumption. How
does the Child in the class become an active ally of the adult world in
this national and international protection from global annihilation through
climate change and other effects of environmental disturbance?
All knowledge today leads to pluralism and conflict. It is important to
reflect on the pedagogical medium for such an education. Within a
democratic set up the task of the educated individual lies in his ability
make informed choices.
There has been a gradual loss of prescriptive commands in the ethics of
our contemporary society. Whether it concerns our environment, our
health, the pattern of consumption or generally our moral behaviour, it is
a question of choice. The pedagogical model must emanate from the
consciousness that all thoughts execute themselves in action. Action is
the result of a thought process which reveals how the individual has
developed sensitivity to the world around him through education.
Teachers need to use questions that encourage judgement rather than
recall. They should elicit higher order thinking such as analysis,
comparison and justificatory reasoning. Teacher training, therefore,
must be reviewed to produce teachers who transact, negotiate,
brainstorm, provoke thinking.
We cannot reduce education for
Democracy, Citizenship and Sustainable development into dry-as-dust
facts to be memorized and repeated mechanically.
Beyond the
curriculum reform that we have started, we need to start a pedagogical
reform to live up to the challenges of a Society that is made up of
reflective practitioners of freedom. Now more than ever we need to
ensure that a proper balance between cognitive, affective and
experiental learning is maintained. One should not apply consensus or
unitary values for full democratic citizenship. Pluralism enjoins upon us
to develop in every child the capacity of thinking within his own private
ethos and making a choice for action in a public world.
In March 2001 Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United
Nations, said:
“Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an
idea that seems abstract – sustainable development and
turn it into reality for all the world’s people”.
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At the Rio Summit of 1992 the role of education in promoting sustainable
development was made explicit by Agenda 21, the global action plan for
the 21st century. “Education should be recognized as a process by
which human beings and societies can reach their fullest potential.
Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and
improving the capacity of the people to address the environment
and development issues”.
The UK panel for Education for Sustainable Development has stated that
‘education for sustainable development’ like ‘citizenship’ is a holistic
approach for a school’s arrangement and the curriculum, not a separate
subject.
A major question is – what form will global citizenship education,
education for democracy and education for sustainable development
take? The UN Decade of Education Sustainable Development proposes
interdisciplinary and holistic learning rather than subject based learning,
value-based learning, critical thinking rather than memorizing, multi
method approaches through discussion, art and drama, participatory
decision making. In fact, it is wise to integrate the objectives of this
education across the curriculum while making the teacher aware of the
goals of this new knowledge.
I welcome this conference and shall patiently wait for the conclusions of
your deliberations. We realize that education reforms are meaningless if
they are not geared to the anticipation of problems, the need to equip
ourselves and the younger generation to safeguard the future. While we
seek solutions to the problems of today, it does not belong to us, but
must bequeath it as a heritage to those innocent children who should not
feel guilty but priviledged to have been sired by us. The signs of cracks
are evident and we must stand warned of our own excesses so that our
children do not continue the unbridled plunder of nature as though the
the life of plenty could go on eternally.
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