Mauritius: Mauritius hosted the 14th World Tamil Teachers’ Conference from December 8th to 10th, 2023, at the Mahatma Gandhi Auditorium in Moka.
The Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Leela Devi Dookun Luchoomun, and the High Commissioner of India to Mauritius, K. Nandini Singla, were present.
The Conference was organised by the International Association for Tamil Teaching and Learning in collaboration with the Primary School Tamil Teachers’ Union, the Mahatma Gandhi Institute and the Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology.
The theme of the Conference was “Highlighting the Spoken Tamil in Teaching and Learning”.
Around 800 participants, including some 250 foreign delegates from Australia, Canada, Europe, India, Madagascar, Malaysia, Myanmar, Reunion, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the USA participated in the Conference.
The objectives were to enhance the development of the Tamil Language through innovative technologies, share different teaching methodologies, facilitate the exchange of ideas and collaboration between practitioners and professionals in Tamil Language and exchange views on the new and novel pedagogical practices amongst peers across the world.
In her address, Minister Dookun-Luchoomun pointed out that globally, there is a growing acceptance and use of digitally enhanced learning and teaching in all subsectors of education.
She acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted the ability of education systems across the world to pivot towards some form of online learning. She dwelt on the benefits resulting from the digital impact on education, adding that a plethora of language learning Apps for Tamil Language are available.
Luchoomun said that the Government extends all possible support and available resources for the promotion of the Tamil Language in Mauritius.
She recalled that Tamil Language is taught from the primary level, that is, from Grade 1 up to Grade 6, and is at par with any other subject in the Primary School Achievement Certificate.
Furthermore, she said that Secondary School students have the opportunity to study Tamil and move on to pursue their free tertiary study in the language in Mauritius itself or through scholarships offered by the Indian Government.
Provision is also made for Evening Schools to be the site for post-school-hours lessons in Tamil Language, with allowances being provided to teachers for their part time teaching of the language, she indicated.
She reiterated the Government’s determination to give all ancestral languages their due weight and position. She expressed her wish to see institutions such as the Mahatma Gandhi Institute engaging in more pedagogy-oriented research so that all ancestral languages, including Tamil, continue to enjoy the privileged position in the pluricultural and plurilingual environment of Mauritius.