Republic of Mauritius- Southern and Eastern African countries discuss Survey Instruments in education

Some 16 African countries of the region are participating in the workshop to finalise the survey instruments which include amongst others, procedures to examine pupil and school-level factors that contribute to variations in reading and mathematics achievement among Grade 6 pupils.

Present at the opening ceremony, the Minister of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research, Mrs Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, stressed on Government’s commitment ensuring that the youth acquire basic educational skill level as per the International benchmark set by Vision 2030. Her Ministry, she pointed out, is working towards creating an education system that enables learners to be equipped with the right skills and knowledge along with consolidated literacy and numeracy factors. 

Speaking about SEACMEQ Projects, Mrs Dookun-Luchoomun underlined that the projects have gained momentum over the years and she expressed optimism that the working meeting on SEACMEQ V will provide valuable data to help member countries in resolving issues related to critic, quality, and access and strengthen the capacity of Ministries to conduct world class and large scale educational policy research. The platform, the Minister indicated, will enable representatives of member countries to review, discuss and agree on SEACMEQ V before finalising the necessary tools to capture data and analyse the current educational system. Member countries will thus, benefit from the collection of baseline data that would provide an assessment of the conditions of schooling, and also several proposals to employ data analysis designed to determine the relative effects of educational input variables on achievement, she said.

Moreover, the Education Minister,  recalled that SEAMEQ has adopted a holistic approach to evaluate the quality of education which according to her is the most appropriate as it considers linkages between inputs, processes and outcomes of education.  Furthermore, she outlined that one of the main challenges that countries are facing is the learning crisis. To that effect, she stressed on the need to reinforce the educational system so that it continues to have a positive impact upon learning outcomes. 

Southern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality

The SEACMEQ is an international non-profit development organisation consisting of 16 Ministries of Education in the Southern and Eastern Africa, namely Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania (Mainland), Tanzania(Zanzibar), Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The objectives of SEACMEQ are to: undertake integrated research and training activities that will expand opportunities for educational planners and researchers; receive training in the technical skills required to monitor, evaluate, and compare the general conditions of schooling and the quality of basic education; and generate information that can be used by decision-makers to plan the quality of education amongst others.