Some 4,600 CPE teachers have warned that they will boycott the next CPE examinations if a 25% increase is not made to their  Rs 1,800 invigilation fee, says Vinod Seegum, president of the Government Teachers' Union.

“We have asked  the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate (MES) to grant us a 25% increase, which is justified because of the rise in the cost of living. We made the request last year but nothing happened. We reteirated the demand in February this year. It's only in June that we have been informed that a meeting will be scheduled to discuss the issue. We are still waiting,” Seegum says.

The 25% increase works out to an additional Rs 450 per invigilator. If the demand is accepted, MES will have to disburse an additional  Rs 2,230,000.

Professor Lucien Finette, Director of the MES, explains: “We did ask for an increase in the fees in our request to the Minister of Finance before the budget but no budgetary provision has been made to this effect. Our meeting with the union will allow us to explain the situation and clear up any misunderstanding and we hope to negotiate in the best interest of all.”

“It is to be noted that the CPE doesn’t generate any revenues and any increase is passed on to tax payers. Every year we try to readjust the salaries and during the last three years, the invigilators have benefited from an overall 38% increase. We must also consider that increasing invigilation fees for CPE teachers will have a snowball effect on other invigilation fees for other examinations and we should be able to cater for all these increases if we are to be fair to everyone. Our meeting with the union will undoubtedly shed light on the situation and will allow negotiation,” Finette says.