The Director of the Mauritius Institute of Education has a message for all teachers and teacher-learners:  We need to extend our actions beyond the walls of the classroom and school and to take up our social role more seriously. 

Her message was well-received by the teaching community that was present at the MIE  for the Flag Raising Ceremony on March 11, 2010.

She said: “For me personally, beyond the formal and ceremonial aspect of the event, it is a moment I look forward to every year, a time for remembrance, and for us in the education sector, a time to pause and reflect on our achievements as a nation.”

She added: “ We are living in challenging and dangerous times. Challenging because new opportunities are being offered to us to shape our destiny. These are not empty words.

At present there is a very tangible and enthusiastic will at all levels to effect long awaited changes. Our country is undergoing major structural transformations, mindsets, attitudes are evolving, technology has become an incredible tool. But these times are also dangerous.

If, at this critical point, we are not able to muster and harness resources to respond to the demands of our times, we are then fated to stay at the backwaters of progress and development. Now is the time for us to consolidate and strengthen our assets, to let go of those prejudices and habits that pull us back as a nation. Our task today is as critical for nation building as the struggle for independence 42 years ago.

“De facto, our society does depend on its teachers to ensure that future generations are equipped with the intellectual, social, emotional and moral resources to work towards that ideal society which is envisioned in our policy documents. This is a tall order, one which we must individually prepare for and assume. How ready and willing are we to invest in that mission? What aptitudes and skills must we develop in this process? What kind of teacher do we want to be? This decision is yours and yours only!

“Teachers need to know their subject. Evidently, they must know all the techniques and develop all the pedagogical understanding to teach.  But are we, as a nation, to be satisfied with a purely functional and technicist approach to teaching? Obviously not.

We need people who believe in certain ideals and are willing to put in the required investment in terms of effort and training to see their mission bear fruits, who are patient and resilient enough to get up every time they fall, selfless enough to work even when the rewards appear to be meagre and humble enough to know that they do not know but confident enough to trust that they can learn.
“All of you are now aware of the intention of the government to use education as a means of giving everybody a real chance to succeed and as a means of poverty alleviation.

This looks straightforward on paper but in practice it means radical changes in the way we think and operate. It means we need to extend our actions beyond the walls of the classrooms and schools, that we take up more systematically and seriously our social role. Many teachers I know will frown here and question whether teachers are psychologists, social workers, family counsellors. My answer is simple: Yes Yes and yes!!! The choice is not ours. MIE exists because of the teachers and the teachers exist because of their students. If their needs are multidimensional so becomes our function. If teachers need to shed their academic robe, cease to be the sage on stage, then so be it! Change is always frightening .

Birth is always traumatising for a baby, the milieu is changing. Similarly, there is fear and resistance to free ourselves from “sedimented” routines. Let us not be frightened by this. We are in this together. We will learn to swim together.”

PM’s message
The message of the Prime Minister to the Nation was read by Sobhanund Seeparsad, Editor News on Sunday and Financial News, who is described by the MIE director as “ a living example of the type of teacher I have just described. As an institution we have taken care to select a guest of honour whose life achievements can be used as a model for those who are or aspire to become teachers.

In engaging teachers in their initial and continuous professional development, our secret hope is that eventually many of you will embrace your profession in the same way as Mr.Seeparsad, demonstrating unflinching commitment to the mission of education and going beyond the duties which are spelled out in your scheme of work. Here is an ex-teacher who has dared to throw open the gates of his school.

In his  quest as an educator, he has trodden  on the pathways that were unknown to him and came back richer in experience. He embraced the challenge and was reborn. But above all he taught with his heart and soul.. As the saying goes,
“ Teaching others is best done with love
Once the heart has understood, the mind opens”