E/C.12/MUS/CO/4 The Committee recommends that the State party evaluate the effectiveness of its strategies to combat the above-mentioned health problems, and if necessary, undertake further measures to that end. In this regard it draws the attention of the State party to its general comment No. 14 (2000) on the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. 30. The Committee is concerned about the slow progress in education, in particular among children in some disadvantaged areas, and that one third of all children do not pass the Primary School Leaving Certificate examinations. The Committee is of the view that the use of English as the language of instruction contributes to this situation, in the light of the fact that Creole is spoken by a large majority of the population. The Committee is also concerned about the negative impact of private tuition on the universal access by children to secondary education (art. 13). The Committee recommends that the State party increase its efforts to ensure that children in disadvantaged areas are able to complete school, including by maintaining and extending the system of Zones d’Éducation Prioritaire. It further recommends that the State party continue its experiments with the use of Creole as a medium of instruction in schools, and that it produce educational materials in Creole. The Committee also recommends that the State party eliminate the competitive system for entry to secondary schools and admit children to secondary schools near to their place of residence and not based on their performance. The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to eliminate situations that may be discriminatory against children with disabilities and take steps to ensure that all children with disabilities can, as appropriate, study in mainstream schools. In order to implement this approach, the State party should ensure that teachers are trained to educate children with disabilities within regular schools, in line with the Committee’s general comment No. 5 (1994) on persons with disabilities. 31. The Committee is concerned that the Mauritian Cultural Centre has ceased to function (art. 15). The Committee recommends that the State party conclude its revision of the objectives of the Mauritian Cultural Centre, re-open it and use it to consolidate national unity, as envisaged. 32. The Committee encourages the State party to consider signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Covenant. 33. The Committee recommends that the State party provide, in its fifth periodic report, updated statistical data on the enjoyment of each Covenant right, disaggregated by age, gender, ethnic origin, urban/rural population and other relevant status, on an annual comparative basis over the past five years. 34. The Committee requests the State party to disseminate the present concluding observations widely among all levels of society, in particular among State officials, the judiciary and civil society organizations, to translate and publicize them as far as possible, and to inform the Committee on the steps taken to implement them in its next periodic report. It also encourages the State party to continue engaging national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations and other members of civil society in the process of discussion at the national level prior to the submission of its next periodic report. 35. The Committee encourages the State party to consider extending an invitation to the special procedures of the Human Rights Council to visit the country with a view to enhancing the dialogue, especially with special rapporteurs in the area of economic, social and cultural rights. 7

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