Reform Party Warns Assessed Grades Could Skew Mauritius Laureate Selection

Mauritius's Reform Party has raised the alarm over the use of Cambridge Assessed Grades as a substitute for traditional written examinations, warning that this approach could have serious consequences for the way the country selects its top-performing students, known as laureates.

The laureate system is a longstanding Mauritian tradition in which the highest-scoring students in the Cambridge School Certificate (SC) and Higher School Certificate (HSC) examinations are awarded prestigious scholarships to study abroad, fully funded by the state. These awards are among the most coveted academic honours in Mauritius and have historically been determined by performance in formal written exams set and marked by Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE).

Assessed Grades, sometimes used when examinations are disrupted, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, are grades awarded based on teacher assessments, predicted scores, coursework and other school-based evaluations rather than a single set of external written papers. The Reform Party argues that this method introduces a level of subjectivity and inconsistency that makes it fundamentally unsuitable for determining laureate selections, where differences of a single mark can decide a student's future.

The party's concern centres on fairness and standardisation. Written examinations administered under the same conditions across all schools provide a common benchmark. Assessed Grades, by contrast, can vary depending on the school, the teacher and the internal assessment culture of each institution. In a small, socially competitive island like Mauritius, where access to laureate scholarships can transform a family's trajectory, any perceived lack of rigour in the grading process risks undermining public confidence in the entire system.

The Reform Party has not yet specified whether it is responding to a confirmed government decision to use Assessed Grades for an upcoming examination sitting, or raising a precautionary concern about policy direction. However, the statement reflects a broader anxiety among parents, educators and students about examination integrity following the disruptions of recent years.

The Ministry of Education in Mauritius oversees the administration of Cambridge exams on the island in coordination with CAIE. Any shift in how results are generated or how laureate rankings are calculated would require clear, transparent communication to reassure students and families who have spent years preparing under the assumption that written performance would be the deciding factor.

What this means: If Assessed Grades are used in place of or alongside written exams to determine laureate rankings, students at different schools may be evaluated by very different standards. Parents and students should seek clarity from the Ministry of Education on whether this approach is being considered for the current academic cycle and how it would affect scholarship eligibility.

Source: Le Defi Media