A Study On The Priority Education Zones Project In Mauritius

Primary education is not only a cultural foundation for learners but also aim at preparing them for future life through a curriculum that caters for their holistic development. Since the National Education Meeting held in 1990, many countries have made significant progress in the promotion of primary education, but for many developing countries, especially African countries, they are still facing many challenges and problems to progress, such as uneven distribution of education resources, high dropout rates, poor academic performance and so on.In order to effectively solve the problem of uneven distribution of education resources, to balance development of the Primary education, Mauritius set the ZEP project in 2003 (’Zone Education Prioritaire’ which means providing priority in education in certain regions) with a view to promote the balance of Primary education as well as to reduce the drop out rates at Certificate of Primary Education (the national examination after primary schooling). The ZEP project concentrates on primary schools in the poor areas of the country also referred to as pockets of poverty. The schools have quite good infrastructures and an adequate number of teachers but still the academic performance of students in these areas is still poor. The ZEP project helps the schools to improve their education level. in order to narrow the gap between developed regions and less developed regions in education. This study will examine the achievements and challenges of the ZEP project in Mauritius.This article mainly includes five parts:The first part mainly introduces the research questions of this article, related concept definition, literature review, research design and the research significance and so on.The second part mainly analyzes the origin of Mauritius ZEP project. Project mainly includes domestic and international factors. Domestic factors mainly based on the country’s economic, political, and cultural aspects. International factors mainly stem from the national education which has become the achievements of many countries and promote the revelation of balancing the development of Primary education.The third part mainly introduced the overview of the ZEP project. Including theoretical basis, the implementation goal, main characteristics and basic situation of ZEP projects.The fourth part mainly discusses the measures undertaken for the realization of the ZEP project. This project mainly contains six measures that are to seek cooperation projects, improve school management, strengthen the school contact with parents and the communities, strengthen the ability of construction in the principal, improve the quality of teachers, strengthen nutrition and provide free meals for children.The fifth part mainly analyzed results and difficulties of the project. The ZEP project in Mauritius is a useful practice to promote the balance of development in Primary education. After the implementation of the project, the infrastructure of schools has improved a lot, school human resources also have been guaranteed, Primary education certificate (CPE) pass rate has improved, dropout rates have been fluctuating. The meal plan also has improved nutritional status of the students, and the school’s management level has improved a lot. But at the same time, it faces many difficulties:students’ dropping out problem is still serious, Primary education certificate pass rate still shows a huge gap with normal schools, teachers’team is unstable, the students’ living conditions and learning environment are still poor and so on. There is a need to review the project in the view to improve the ZEP system put in place.