According to a World Education Forum report, Mauritius moves up to third from fourth in Africa for education systems based on skill development.
When buying a new home and moving with your family to Mauritius, one of the most critical factors in your decision-making will be the property’s proximity to the best English-medium schools.
The good news is that Mauritius ranks third among 38 African countries rated for its education systems based on skill development. The island follows Seychelles and Tunisia in first and second place, respectively. South Africa is fourth.
Its status is thanks to a World Education Forum (WEF) report, comprehensively assessing global education systems encompassing 140 countries. The report delves into skill development, factoring in the overall level of labour competence, the amount and quality of schooling in each nation, digital literacy, interpersonal skills, and critical and creative thinking ability. The WEF report is a widely recognised benchmark for evaluating the quality of education systems worldwide.
According to Bscholarly, which published the results, the WEF rates Mauritius as the second-best in the mathematics and science educational system globally.
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Leading education hub for high-quality education
The government’s unwavering commitment to education is evident in its aim to position Mauritius as the leading education hub for the region. This aligns with its broader goal to develop the island as an innovation-driven economy. The transformation of Mauritius into a knowledge-based island necessitates a highly productive, skilled, and qualified workforce, inspiring further investment and maintaining the country’s competitiveness.
Furthermore, the development of Mauritius as a regional hub for high-quality education and training in the knowledge industry will act as a catalyst for broadening the Mauritian economy and providing necessary support to existing and upcoming sectors.
School curricula are among the top internationally recognised programmes, with either English or French as the medium of instruction. This language policy reflects Mauritius’s bilingual nature, where English and French are widely spoken and used in various aspects of life. In addition, the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation runs four different education channels to broadcast lessons for students in Grades 1 to 9.
All young islanders must attend school until they are 16. To encourage and support their attendance, the Government of Mauritius offers free transport to learners.
A plethora of English schools in Mauritius
International Schools in Mauritius
For many expats, the diverse range of English-medium schools in Mauritius is a significant draw. The island offers a wide choice of schooling that meets international standards, ensuring that every child’s educational needs are met.
Many expat families in Mauritius have thrived, thanks to the world-renowned Montessori preprimary learning programme adopted in schools such as Little Judy in the south, l’Ile aux Enfants on the west coast, and Montessori Kids’ Paradise in the east.
International Preparatory School (IPS) is a private English preprimary and primary school in Mauritius. It caters to learners aged 18 months to 11 years. It is a candidate school for the Primary Years Programme under the International Baccalaureate, offering a promising future for your children.
Parents who prefer English-medium primary schools in Mauritius can consider the International Preparatory School in the north or Clavis International Primary School in Moka. Telfair International Primary School (TIPS) in Tamarin incorporates the British National Curriculum for children five to 12 years old.
Northfields International School (NIS) is one of the privately owned English schools in Mauritius, which is a natural choice for English-speaking students whose families settle in the north. It is an IB World School and University of Cambridge International Examination Centre. It offers prep school education for years 5-9 and IGCSE for years 10-11, finishing with Cambridge International A levels.
Westcoast International Secondary School (WISS) is the only English-medium secondary school on the West Coast of Mauritius. Students study the International Middle Year Curriculum (IMYC) in the early stages and then follow a curriculum established for the IGCSE. The IMYC is a comprehensive curriculum framework designed for students aged 11 to 14, focusing on developing key academic, personal, and international learning skills. It provides a solid foundation for students transitioning from primary to secondary education.
Meanwhile, French-speaking students can enrol at Ecole Paul & Virginie in Black River or Lycée Labourdonnais in Curepipe, one of the top private French-medium secondary schools.
Government increases spend on education
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics, which tracks data points for countries towards SDG 4 global indicators, shows stable improvement/ investment in building and upgrading education facilities in Mauritius that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non‐violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all. Areas of marked improvement are the volume of official development assistance flows (in millions USD) for scholarships by sector and type of study (Target 4.b) – increasing from USD 1.3m in 2021 to USD 1.6m in 2022 and the percentage proportion of teachers with the minimum required qualifications (Target 4.c) – Secondary (ISCED 2 to 3) improving from the low 31.3% in 2015 to 48.4% in 2021.
Furthermore, the education system in Mauritius is making rapid strides towards achieving the 2025 national benchmark. This is evident in the positive trend of the completion rates in primary and upper secondary and the decline in out-of-school rates in primary and lower secondary (Target 4.1), which is a promising sign for the future of education in the country.
Values for achieving Target 4.a: Schools with access to the internet for pedagogical purposes (primary, lower secondary, upper secondary and secondary) are all at 100% as is the percentage of teachers with the minimum required qualifications for preprimary and primary levels.
Investment in education and training
According to Statistics Mauritius, government expenditure on education and training for the financial year 2022/2023 was estimated at MUR 20,762 million compared to MUR 18,434 million for 2021/2022.
Preprimary schools numbered 769 in March 2023, with an enrolment of 23,776 children, of whom almost half were girls (49.2%). That’s an average of 14 pupils aged four to five per teacher.
As of March 2023, there were 325 primary schools with 89,001 pupils, of whom 49.3% were girls. The pupil/teacher (general purpose) ratio for students aged 6 to 11 years is 16.
As of March 2023, 179 schools provided secondary regular and extended education. The secondary school enrolment was 98,900, of whom 51.7% were girls, and the pupil/teacher ratio was 11.
The percentage of school candidates meeting the Primary School Achievement Certificate (PSAC) was 83.1 in 2021/2022. The pass rate for the School Certificate (SC) decreased from 85.7% in 2020/2021 to 78.5% in 2022, while that for the Higher School Certificate (HSC) increased from 90.0% to 92.3%.
This background provides a substantial incentive to move to Mauritius if you have a young family with children starting their schooling at an English preprimary school Mauritius or entering the tertiary stream. Invest in your dream home on the island, and the motivation increases tenfold, especially if you qualify for a permanent residence permit. A permanent residence permit allows you to live and work in Mauritius indefinitely, offering stability and security for your family’s future.
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