Mauritius Trip

Children are enrolled in primary school from the age of five and enter Standard I and move automatically up to Standard IV. As the child reaches Standard IV, there is a streaming process that follows. The system is highly competitive and a two-year preparation starts since Standard V up to Standard VI for the end of primary school examinations, the CPE (Certificate of Primary Education). The CPE is a national examination carried out in all the schools of the island following a grading system. Five subjects are compulsory and taken into account for the ranking process; English, French, Mathematics, Science, and History and Geophaphy. The Asian languages are included in the grading process. This examination was like a bottleneck from primary to secondary schools, when the ranking system was in force (expounded in the next paragraph). For instance, out of 25,629 candidates in 1996, 16,737 passed all grades included (Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, 1998). Among them, only about 8,000 were admitted to secondary schools, both State and Private of the island, and some 3,000 found their way to Basic Prevocational or technical school. Over 14,000 students are said to be, ‘left without a future’. On the whole, the CPE examination was basically like a kind of streaming at the national level.

Agalega Islands (called Agalega Islands) – two islands in the Indian Ocean lies about 1,100 km (700 miles) north of Mauritius, to which they belong. Their total area is 70 km ². On the northern island of the runway, the capital of Vingt Cinq and village of La Fourche, a southern village on the island of Sainte Rita. The islands are known for the cultivation of coconut.

Mauritius is a parliamentary democracy similar in structure to the United Kingdom. The head of state of Mauritius is the President, who is elected for a five-year term by the National Assembly, the unicameral Mauritian parliament. The National Assembly consists of 62 members elected directly by popular vote, with between four and eight further members appointed from “best losers” election candidates to represent ethnic minorities, if under represented after the elections. The government is headed by the prime minister and a council of ministers.

The Government is elected on a five-year basis. The most recent general elections took place on 3 July 2005 in all the 20 mainland constituencies, as well as the constituency covering the island of Rodrigues.

Historically, elections have always had a tendency to adhere to a system comprising two major coalitions of parties.

In international affairs, Mauritius is part of the Indian Ocean Commission, the Southern African Development Community and the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie (French speaking countries) amongst others. A more complete list can be found in the main Politics of Mauritius article.

In 2006, Mauritius asked to be an observing member of Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) in order to become closer to those countries.

Mauritius does not have a standing army but it does have an military structure (like Coast Guard officers) and does have security and police forces.

Mauritius enjoys a typically tropical climate with year-round heat, although the southeast trade winds help it to never feel too muggy. The best months to visit Mauritius are from May to early December. January and February, the peak cyclone months, are best avoided by water-sports enthusiasts and divers. Cyclones rarely hit Mauritius (but Rodrigues has suffered far more regularly than the mainland).

Hardly a week goes by in Mauritius without some celebration. On Rodrigues, the main cultural event is the Festival Kréol, which takes place over three days at the end of October.

Apart from the Christmas-New Year peak, Mauritius doesn’t really have high and low seasons. The situation is more dependent on outside factors (such as the French school holidays, which cause a big increase in demand and prices in August).

Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius. It is a port on the Indian Ocean, and the nation’s largest city and main port. It is located in the Port Louis District. The population is 147,688 (2003 census).

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius, French: République de Maurice, is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres (560 mi) east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the republic includes the islands of St. Brandon, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion 200 km (125 mi) to the southwest and the island of Rodrigues 570 km to the northeast.