Mauritius celebrates World Teachers Day

Mauritius: “The role of teachers is no longer mere knowledge impartation but also to serve as a guide and parent by engaging in the inculcation of values among students,” affirmed the Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, in her address, yesterday, on the occasion of World Teachers’ Day, organised by the Government Teachers’ Union (GTU) at the Louis Eugene Fabien Teachers’ Centre in Quatre-Bornes.

Highlighting the theme of World Teachers’ Day for this year, ‘The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage’, VPM Dookun-Luchoomun acknowledged the challenges prevalent in the teaching domain.

She called for the need for teaching professionals, whether pre-primary, primary, secondary or tertiary, to act as a united body and adapt to this constantly changing world.

Dookun-Luchoomun stressed that having the best teachers is a requisite to produce a high calibre future generation. As such, accredited teaching training courses provided by educational institutions, such as the Mauritius Institute of Education, are crucial to empower teachers.

She further stated that earning the Bachelor of Education course is now a reality for teachers and the objective is to transform the primary teaching force into an all-graduate one.

The Academy for Education Professionals, indicated VPM Dookun-Luchoomun, has been established to foster the continuous professional development of teachers whereby they can share their experiences and even mentor newcomers in the teaching profession. She added that this is one of the pillars of the Nine-Year Continuous Basic Education.

The Vice-Prime Minister lauded the valuable contribution of teachers in helping Mauritius maintain its performance as a beacon. She underlined that around 130 students have topped the world for the Cambridge International Examinations and the way the recent global challenges, such as COVID-19 and the Ukraine war, have been commendably dealt with are a testament to the unflinching dedication and hard work of educators.