ADDRESS BY HON D.

GOKHOOL, MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES Annual Prize Giving Cosmopolitan College Plaine des Papayes Thursday 5 April 2007 at 08 45 hrs Plaine des Papayes

Ladies & Gentlemen A very good morning to all of you. It is indeed a pleasure for me to be amongst you this morning for the annual prize giving ceremony. I thank the Management and Staff of the Cosmopolitan College for the kind invitation extended to me. May I extend to the Management, students, staff and the PTA all my best wishes and blessings on this auspicious occasion. Prize giving ceremony

Dear Students, a prize giving ceremony is always a special event because it does not only allow us to congratulate those who have succeeded and have come out with flying colours but it also gives the motivation needed to those who have come just after to work even harder. Congratulations to all those who have won prizes and to those who have not but have tried hard. I wish them good luck for next time. Remember well, as pointed out by Anthony Robbins, that the road to success is always under construction. It is a progressive course, not an end to be reached. May I therefore convey to you all my congratulations for your efforts and realisations. Your college, I have been told was founded in 1963 with eighty-four students and with very limited educational facilities. I am sure many of you present here, today, were not even born at that time, and, do not know, that running a college in those days was extremely difficult and challenging! Difficult, because, in those days, no grants were given to colleges and challenging, because, in rural areas parents either did not have the means to pay for the childrens

education or simply were not conscious of the need to educate them. I am personally aware of other social difficulties that the founders had to encounter in starting and running this institution. All I can say is that it must have been a bold act of faith for the promotion of education. Running a college in a village was tantamount to benevolent social work. It is with great perseverance and strenuous effort that the founder Mr Dayachand Napal and his wife started the college. As Minister, I would like to pay my tribute to the founders and all those who have been and are associated with this remarkable institution. Since that time, for 44 years now, Cosmopolitan College has continued to forge ahead against all odds in an attempt to cater for the educational needs of several generations of pupils living in the north of the island.

I am pleased to note that the patience, sacrifice and hard work of the Manager and staff have been rewarded as today the College has developed into two departments a Girls and a Boys Department offering a wide range of subjects to the students up till Form VI. Era of Change You have indeed come a long way ; but as they say you still have many more miles to go. And to face new challenges. We are living in an era of change, and of numerous challenges. Today, change has become a leitmotif in the Mauritian society-changes in all aspects of life. Beyond a mere slogan, change is a reality of our daily lives. And we have to prepare our people to deal with the challenges that change poses.

CHARLES DARWIN: It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

And that is why , one of the sectors where change is vital is Education . John F Kennedy who stated : Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource. Ladies and Gentlemen, globalisation is bringing about new parameters for development and we have to ensure that our children are prepared, empowered and equipped with knowledge and skills to face the challenges of this new era in a world which is becoming increasingly competitive. We have to acquire new knowledge, new mindsets and new competencies. That is why my Ministry has committed itself to provide a World Class Quality Education to all our students across the country so that they become more innovative, creative, versatile and productive.

Our mission is to democratize access, improve quality and ensure equity and to that end, we are introducing comprehensive, interdependent reforms across the sub sectors. Our vision is to transform the Mauritian society into a modern Knowledge-based cyber island. In this context the role of Education is decisive and catalytic. I believe that we have no choice than to develop high quality human resources and this can only be achieved through the provision of Quality Education. In todays world, there is no room for amateurism; professionalism is the order of the day. That is why the Reforms in the Education Sector have become imperative. As far as my responsibility as Minister of Education & Human Resources is concerned, I can state boldly that since I have assumed office, I have made every effort to spearhead the Reform process in a bid to provide a broad-based total education for our students.

I have already made public a number of actions and initiatives that will bring several transformations in the domain of education. We are reviewing the curriculum to make it more relevant to the needs of the market. The reforms encompass the Evaluation and Assessment, Teacher Training and Continuous Professional Development, School Leadership and Management, Quality Infrastructure and above all, the integration of ICT and New Technology in enhancing educational processes and outcomes. I have already announced that the year 2007 will be the Year of Technology in the education sector. We also want to Community Involvement and Participation and modernise the institutional and Legal Frameworks, for the provision of quality education. Our goal goes even beyond just quality. We want to reach out for Excellence and be the best. Our aim should be to reach out for excellence in everything that we undertake. We should learn to stand on our feet and fight our own battles. We should be a nation of achievers and champions. We should reinvent the destiny of our

country and we should aim to be the new Star and Key of the Indian Ocean. Partnership I consider that the partnership between the State and the Private Secondary Schools Sector will create a synergy, which will quicken the pace at which we shall achieve our aim. Dear Students, the philosophy of this Government is to democratise access to education ensuring that the most vulnerable section of our society gets the greater support. This is why today we have increased the amount of subsidies on SC/HSC examination fees, for the most needy students. More than 8000 students today are getting the full amount of exam fees paid by Government as compared to some 1500 students who were previously receiving this facility, while all other students will receive 25% of their exam fees subsidised by Government.

We shall continue upholding our commitment to the nation as far as education of our children and youth is concerned. Your institution should continue its good work and I invite you all to participate in the Excellence in Education Awards 2007 that we have launched recently. Let me once again, congratulate the students for their good work To you students I have this to say: Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars. Les Brown. I congratulate the staff and management of the college for their commitment and dedication. I have no doubt that the Cosmopolitan College will continue to forge its way ahead towards excellence and I wish you all good luck and success in your endeavours. Thank you.

05 April 2007

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