2010 will be a year of innovations and creativity in the education sector . Enhancement Programme and continuous assessment are among a panoply of changes that the Ministry intends to introduce this year in all primary schools.

Enhancement Programme, the Minister says,  is not obligatory but is important if a student wants to pass the CPE in two years' time.

“The quality of assessment, the type of questions, the CPE system, everything will change in two to three years' time and, if parents want their children to be able to adapt to the new system , they will need the Enhancement Programme to guide them,”  Bunwaree told the press at the IVTB House on Wednesday.

“The Enhancement Programme will be meant for students of STD III and STD IV. It will be conducted three times a week after school hours. We assure the parents that it will not go beyond 1700 hrs. 35 minutes out of  a- 75-minute session will be devoted to academic learning while the rest will consist of theatre, music, poem, reading, teaching of anti-stress method, discipline and the introduction of slam, among
others,” the Minister said.
The programme will include the use of laptops, projectors and other additional tools.

 “Teachers involved in the programme will receive an allowance similar to that of those working in ZEP schools. Moreover, the headteachers will also receive an allowance as they will act as a mediator in the programme. Hence, we ask teachers who are interested to inform us so that we can provide them with the essential training,” Bunwaree said.

The Continuous Assessment will be introduced as from the first term of school.­
“Questions will be prepared by the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate but the prerogative of choosing the questions will remain with the teacher. He will be helped by a team of officers from the Ministry, MIE and MES who will assume a follow-up. Continuous Assessment will be conducted whenever the teacher feels that he has completed an important chapter and wants to ensure that the pupils have grasped the concept. However, this will be on an experimental basis for two years; for the moment, the marks of the Continuous Assessment will not be added to those of the exams at the end of each term,” the Minister said.