Subsidy on exam fees: Students protest against attendance criteria

Outraged, confused, stressed – these are some of the feelings of many SC and HSC students and their parents currently. The compulsory 90% attendance to benefit from the state subsidy has led to many upheavals and left both students and parents in uncertainty. What will happen to those who do not have the means to pay for the fees?

In less than a month, School Certificate (SC) and Higher School Certificate (HSC) students will be sitting for the end of year exams. Since the beginning of the third term, secondary schools around the island have been activating things for the good running of pre-examination procedures. However, it is more a feeling of anger and confusion that has been prevailing since a few days. 

In its Government Program 2015-2019, the ruling Alliance Lepep government highlighted that “full subsidies on SC and HSC examinations will be extended indiscriminately to all pupils irrespective of their social background.” After a first exercise in June / July, rectors of colleges communicated the number of candidates taking part in examinations to the Mauritius Examination Syndicate. 

However it is on Friday September 2 that the MES, in a letter sent to heads of colleges, advised that those who have had less than 90% attendance between January and July 2016 would have to pay for the examination fees. Thus the responsible parties of many students had until this Friday September 9 to settle the examination fees payments, costing between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000. This short delay caused panic among college staff and generated anger and protest from many students and parents. 

However, following a meeting with the Ministry of Education, the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate (MES) announced on Tuesday that the deadline for the payments of examinations fees, which was initially on Friday September 9, has been reviewed. Indeed the Ministry of Education decided to grant further extension to the deadline for the payment of the examination fees by School Certificate (SC) and Higher School Certificate (HSC) students, who have not respected the 90% attendance requirement.

Following this decision, the Director of MES, Brenda Thanacoody-Sooborun, highlighted that the measure applies only to students who have not fulfilled the attendance rate from January to July 2016. “They were entitled to only 15 absences,” she said. Parents should go to their child’s respective college between Friday September 9 and Wednesday September 4 to complete the required formalities. A moratorium to the end of October for the fees payment has been announced. 

Brenda Thanacoody-Sooborun reassured that the vast majority of the candidates met the 90% attendance rate and that it is the 2015 attendance which was taken into consideration and not the 2015-16 cumulative. According to established requirements, a student was entitled to ten days of absence in 2015 (when he was in Form IV or Lower VI) and 15 days of absence until mid-July 2016. 

At a press conference on Wednesday, the MMM’s Education Committee demanded the cancellation of the deadline extension for examination fees payment. “This is not the time to destabilise the students and their parents,” said Steven Obeegadoo, chairman of the MMM’s Education Committee. He demanded that all SC and HSC candidates should be granted full subsidies this year. 

Parents put forward their precarious situations

At a press conference held on Thursday morning, SC and HSC students demonstrated their anger and disapproval against the absence rate requirements. Organised by the group ‘Student Right’ comprising of SC and HSC students from various colleges around the island, the press conference also saw the presence of anxious and furious parents who voiced out their discontentment. Students argued that they were not informed at any time by the heads of their respective schools about their absences and if ever they were exceeding the required rate. “We have not received any announcement or paper notifying us of anything,” they deplored. 

Students stated that the present conditions are not fair. “Before, poor families and those who had meek revenues benefited from 100% or 50% subsidies. Now they will not benefit of any subsidy if ever they have not met the attendance rate requirements. What will be the procedures for those families? Has the government promised the full subsidy to all students just to get the people’s vote?” They said that it was difficult for most SC and HSC students to meet with the 90% attendance rate. “This is because we have lots to do. We work till late at night on projects and revision. We also prefer to do our personal work at home as we are not satisfied with what teachers are providing in schools. We believe that the government should carry out a survey to know the true reasons behind the absenteeism. Some teachers do not work at all in class. We cannot afford to waste our time.”

Sheik Hyath Rehid, member of the Student Right group, pointed out that the payment of the fees is a financial burden for many parents who have modest means.  “We appeal to all parents not to sign any paper,” he stated. On the same line, various parents have come forward to express their grief. “I am a divorced woman and I am the only bread winner. It is just outrageous that the government is putting an unbearable pressure on students and parents during such a stressful period,” said a parent. Another parent said that her daughter came home crying after hearing the news regarding the attendance rate requirements. “I am also a single parent. My daughter had aggregate 9 for her SC. But now where will I find the money to pay for her HSC fees? She will be unable to sit for the exams and her future is at stake.” 

Parents lamented on the lack of communication from the Ministry and the Minister of Education and ask the government to respect its electoral promise. A determined parent demanded the revocation of Leela Devi-Dookun Luchoomun as Minister of Education. “If she cannot handle the issue as a Minister, then she should step down. The Prime Minister must take an immediate decision to ask the Minister to step down.” 

Dean Baungalea, upper six student, created the page ‘Bouze Zeness’ on the social network Facebook following the news from the MES. “My parents told me to step up for myself and for all the others students in the same situation. I have created this page to give a platform to the youth to express themselves. However many are stating that they are not worried as their parents have the means to pay for the fees. However they should realise that we do not all have the same means.” 

The students plan to organise a pacific march on Thursday 15 September if the government does not revise its decision. However they appeal to students in colleges around the island. They also disapproved of student misbehaviour in some specific cases. “Violence has never resolved anything,” they said. MP Shakeel Mohamed from the Labour Party was also present at the press conference to show his support to the students and parents. 

Loopholes in the procedures?  

In order for students to benefit from free examinations fees, school directors had to send all related information. However we learned from sources in the field that some rectors of state colleges did not do so. There were indeed more than 70 colleges falling within that category.

To date, the Ministry of Education has issued four circulars regarding this issue, since the beginning of the year. Circular No. 12, dated May 5, defined terms and eligibilities criteria for payment of examination fees of SC / HSC / GCE 2016. In Circular No. 25, dated 25 May, it is stated that the Eligibility Criteria Form (SCF) must be approved and signed by the parents before the submission of entries to examinations by the colleges.

Following the guidelines of the Ministry of Education, officers of the MES had the task of checking each entry. Following this exercise, the circular No. 55 was sent to rectors on September 1. It indicated that students who had not met the 90% attendance requirements as by July 15, 2016 had to pay the exam fees by latest Wednesday, September 7. This date has been postponed to Friday September 9 to Wednesday September 14 so as to also allow college rectors and directors to finalize the procedures.

CFTU sends a letter to the Minister of Education

Radakrisna Sadien, the president of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions, sent a letter to the Minister of Education, Leela Devi Dookun on 7 September, commenting on the 90 percent attendance to cater for the SC and HSC exams fees.

Here are extracts of the letter:

“At a time when our sons and daughters should be concentrating on revising for exams and while it is the duty of each parent and that of the State to promote a healthy and conducive atmosphere both at home and at school, parents are instead asking their kids to account for their absences, while at school discussions are focusing on payment of exam fees.  Both parents and the State are committing some form of abuse and violence on our children,” Sadien wrote in the letter.

The Ministry of Education has come up with this measure to address the problem of absenteeism in our schools.  Why is such a measure implemented only in secondary schools?  Is it because at secondary level we need to pay fees to Cambridge and parents are relying on this ‘promesse electorale’ that the Ministry of Education considers that they have the right to blackmail parents.

The decision to address the issue of absenteeism in schools should not be addressed with neither emotional nor economic blackmail.  The Ministry of Education has decided that 10% of absences can be tolerated and beyond that the child and the parent should justify their absences. It has been said that parents are aware of the number of absences of their kids. It is indeed mentioned in report books but the report books do not mention how many absences are allowed and the balance left for students to be qualified for payment of exams fees.  How do we ensure that the measures have been communicated to students?

It would be in the interest of one and all if the Government could clarify all the above mentioned issues before students sit for their exams as many children from the working class rely on this school success to fulfilll their dreams.’