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Development Assistance to Education – The Case of
Mauritius: Changing Assistance to Partnership
Armoogum Parsuramen 1
This contribution will focus mainly on development aid in the field of education,
with specific reference to the case of Mauritius, in the context of the
preparation, formulation and implementation of a five-year Master Plan for
Education. It illustrates how the Government managed to build consensus
with internal and external stakeholders around a broad reform agenda.
The Mauritian experience with respect to international assistance for education
has many lessons to offer – in terms of innovative practices, policy
changes and more importantly, on the shift from assistance to constructive
partnerships, based on dialogue and transparency.
From conditionality towards dialogue and mutual learning
The development of the Mauritian education system has evolved over many
years, with the support of external agencies both in terms of technical advice
and financial support. It has a primary education enrolment rate of over
90 per cent. Education is free from primary to tertiary level. It is a country
without any mineral resources and its economy rests on sugar production,
the export processing manufacturing sector and tourism. It has a democratic
government founded on respect for fundamental rights and freedoms.
In the late 1970s, substantial loans were contracted with the World Bank
for the expansion of educational opportunities through the construction of
new junior secondary schools, for strengthening management and administration
and improving education quality. The aim of the project was to improve
efficiency, ensure equity, quality, human resource development, and
institution building. This assistance was subject to certain conditions, namely
that Government will introduce (a) regulations on budgetary and financial
control of private secondary schools, (b) a new junior secondary school curriculum,
(c) a Form III examination, and (d) double shift utilization of Bankassisted
schools among other things.
These conditions could not be implemented as they aroused massive discontent
and were not accepted by the parents, trade unions and the public
at large. The practicability of these conditions was questionable and it was
1 Armoogum Parsuramen (Mauritius) has a degree in Administration from the University of
Mauritius. He was Minister of Education in 1983–1995. Parsuramen represented Mauritius at the
Executive Board of UNESCO 1995–1996. From 1997–1998, he worked at the World Bank before
joining UNESCO in July 1998. He is now Director of UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar.