THE STUDENTS
At national level there are some 4000 students annually which join the prevocational stream. There are some 1200 students in the Catholic sector. Most of the students come from low economic background, broken families and show signs of high level of learning difficulties. Seventeen catholic colleges offer a prevocational stream, out of which 12 colleges are following the Prevokbek curriculum.
In 2003, the Bureau of Catholic Education conducted an Impact Evaluation study of the prevocational programme. The findings gave clear indications that the programme was not achieving literacy and numeracy. It was even irrelevant to some extent. It is within this context that the programme was reviewed and Prevok-Bek was introduced in catholic colleges.
The Prevokbek program has been introduced in 2005. It is a literacy program for the prevocational stream in ten secondary catholic colleges. The program has been designed by the linguist Dev Virahsawmy and a team of teachers. Its main feature is the teaching of Mauritian Creole (Kreol Morisien) to achieve basic literacy and numeracy.
Catholic education has made a breakthrough with the formal use of Mauritian Kreol as both medium and language subject in the Republic of Mauritius. In addition to Mauritian Kreol, English and French languages are taught as Second Languages. Mauritian kreol is used as medium (oral and written) for the teaching of Maths and sciences or vocational subjects.
Prevokbek program ushers the democratisation of education. Prevokbek programme is grounded into several declarations and conventions adopted by UNESCO Member States