Flamboyant Education Centre is a child care unit and pre-primary school in Mauritius that provides a learning environment for children aged 2 to 5 years old. These are all children who come from deprived backgrounds. The Centre may sometimes be the most stable element in these children's lives. The Centre is located on the west coast of the island, in Richelieu, to the south of Port-Louis. It is one of Mauritius' poorest communities. The school opened on the 19th March 2012 under the auspices of the non-governmental organisation run by and for women, Soroptimist International, along with their partner organisation, the Roman Catholic NGO, Caritas. Caritas had been managing the Centre d'Eveil, now called Red Class, for eight months prior to the opening of the pre-primary school (la maternelle), from June 2011. At that time there were 13 children in the project ranging from age 2 to 4. The idea was initiated in 2007, with a first look at the Cite Flamboyant by the Soroptimist ladies. The building was in a place occupied by displaced people who had lost their homes during a cyclone, and was a meeting point for gangs and prostitutes, causing a lot of problems in the area. Often children were not able to go to school as there was no provision for pre-schooling, and for the mothers it was difficult to work and look after their children. This is when the idea of an Education Centre for the community was first mooted. With the help of Caritas, a building was prepared for the arrival of a group of young children, and in June 2011 the Centre d'Eveil opened its doors. This is now called Red Class, the class for the youngest of the children at the Centre. The building next door having been burned out, this underwent a complete renovation and on the 19th March 2012 the Centre Flamboyant was finally opened for a total of 27 children aged 3 to 5 years. The Centre is now managed by a Comité de Gestion consisting of representatives of Caritas, Soroptimist International and the community St. Coeur de Marie. Members of the Comité visit the families to ensure close cooperation with the parents. In January 2012 Soroptimist International took over the managership of the Centre d'eveil as well as that of the pre-school while Caritas continued to work with the families in the community. The aim was to assist as many of the mothers as possible to develop skills and find work that would enable them to change their personal circumstances. There are four classes for the children:
Red Class (2 – 3 years)
Yellow Class (3 – 4 years)
Blue Class (4 – 5 years)
Green Class (4 – 5 years)
Every class has two teachers. A psychologist and a speech therapist follow the progress of the children. The Centre organises dental care education and regular medical check ups, including eye tests, vaccination schedules and general health checks through the Ministry of Health and Morisiens sans Frontieres. At the Centre the children are provided with breakfast, lunch and two snacks per day. Meals are cooked at the Centre with ingredients provided through the project sponsors. The school is open from Monday to Friday from 7:30 to 15:30 and 10 teachers and four domestic staff are looking after the current 55 children. At Flamboyant, every child is given a uniform, T shirts in the four colours that go to make up the Mauritian flag. The centre is equipped with toilets and a shower the children can be bathed when necessary. There are donations of nappies from sponsors for those children still not potty-trained. At Flamboyant Education Centre the children learn in Mauritian Kreol and they have half an hour or the equivalent, of English and French lessons every day. The school prides itself on being trilingual with French, English and Kreol all being used on a daily basis. In order to give the children a good stable start to their education the school follows the Mauritian pre-primary education curriculum and the children have lessons in Language Arts, Creativity, Music, Personal and Social Development, Mathematics and Physical Education. Methodology is based on best practice in Early Years education, with 'play' at the centre of all the learning that takes place. The many activities offered include gardening, playing in the paddling pool and going on trips to places of interest in Mauritius. The aim is to give these children stability and the chance to develop their abilities. The Centre is an opportunity for them to learn playfully in a safe and caring environment. The aim is to teach them the joy of learning and in that way, to arouse their motivation to discover and to learn on their own – attributes that will be very important in their later lives.
