| * Do you get any tropical storms?* Yes, and then we miss tonz of school days, yipeeee! Lol, we get tropical cyclones in summer, they can be very violent. The last one we had did a lot of damage and we missed school for one whole week. The only problem was that there was no electricity for a large part of that week! It was soooo boring, I was on the phone all day long �what are you doing? Nothing? Me too!� The problem with tropical cyclones are the gusts [strong winds], they can be destructive. * What's the religion?* There are three main religions: Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. Most Christians are Roman Catholics who are in turn mostly Creoles. Hindus are usually Indians and Muslims are mostly Sunnis from India too. Other religions are Bhuddism and the other Christian religions [namely Protestants, Anglicans, Methodist etc] According to the 1990 census, 49 percent of the population was Hindu, 27 percent Roman Catholic, 16 percent Muslim, and 0.5 percent Protestant; 7.5 percent belonged to other groups. * What's your school system like?* It could be resumed in: �either you compete or you die� It�s extreeeeeemely competitive so they are currently changing the system. The old one, the one which I was in, was as follows: Pre-primary school, primary school at the age of 5, end primary school 6 years later. At the end of primary school there is a national exam [CPE]. You get ranked and depending on your rank you are given a secondary school. So, it�s possible that you live in the North of Mauritius and go to a school in the South. 30 000 pupils take part in that exam, only 3500 are ranked. Secondary school has 7 years. At the end of 5 years [Forms 1 to 5], you take part in an exam called SC [School Certificate which is the same as an O Level]. You move on to HSC [2 years] if you pass. At the end of the two years, you sit for the HSC exams [A Levels] and there�s a rat rate to get the crappy Govt scholarship. The first 30 in each category [Science, Art, Technical, Economics] are ranked nationally. SC and HSC exams are done by Cambridge University in the UK. 19 000 students take part in the SC exams and 10 000 in the HSC ones. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 20 000 OTHER PUPILS ALONG THE WAY? There is a university of Mauritius where it�s almost impossible to secure a place expect if you get AAA or AAB. There are other tertiary institutions but they are 5 to 7 times more than the university. The new school system is not very clear cos it�s still in the process of being implemented. Anyway here are the main points: CPE and ranking abolished. Science, computing etc are introduced at primary level. Secondary schools are given on regional level. Secondary schools are divided into Forms 1 to 5 and Form 6 schools. My school is turning into a Form 6 school. Form 6 schools are allocated depending upon SC exams, implying that still if you live in the North, you might go to a Form 6 school in the South. [although I think all the Form 6 schools are in towns, middle of Mauritius] * What cars do you drive?* Mostly Japanese cars. [Mitshubishi, Toyota, Nissan] Some European cars [Renault, Ford, Wolswagen, BMW, Mercedes ] are also widely spread. American cars are not sold here. There are no limousines. Euh where are Mercedes from? * Do you have any local celebrities?* There are two local soap operas that I do not watch so I suppose the actors are celebrities. The sega singers are also celebrities and we have comics who are quite famous too. Back to Mauritius � See some pix � Go Home |