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Changing
your mindset
By Girish
Lowtun, Adil Jhungeer, Nanreshsing Sungkur, Anas Aubdoolah, Heman
Shamachurn, Ranghanarda Thielamay of Sookdeo Bisoondoyal State
College, Mauritius.
In 2004, students
from Sookdeo Bisoondoyal State College, as part of their activities
on the Small Islands Voice Youth Internet Forum, undertook a project
called Changing your mindset.
Presenting 'Changing your mindset' at
the Small Islands Voice
Side event at Community Vilaj, 10th January 2005.
They undertook
a brainstorming exercise and identified the problems facing people
in Mauritius. The problems identified ranged from racism to child
abuse to piracy. They identified and analysed ten main problem
areas:
- Economy
- Employment
- Health
care
- People's
mindset
- Education
- Environment
- Tourism
- Decline
in moral and/or traditional values
- Increased
crime and violence
- Good governance
The team ranked
the problems based on their own knowledge and experiences. The
results showed that changing people's mindset was the most important
- all too often negative thinking was present, and this prevented
advancement both for the individual and the country. Furthermore
they felt that prevention is better than cure.
The team then
prepared an action plan on ways to improve people's mindset. This
included:
- Sensitisation
campaigns with posters, stickers and leaflets
- Use of
mass media: radio, television, newspapers, magazines
- Education
at early childhood: specialised teachers for citizen education
Finally they
produced and distributed a brochure calling on people to 'Choose
your own destiny', with graphical representations of negative
and positive destinies.
The
world will change if you change your mindset
The group
of six students presented their project, as a powerpoint
presentation, at the Small Islands Voice side event to the
Main International UN Meeting, held at the Community Vilaj, Freeport
on 19th January 2005.
Girish Lowtun, Adil Jhungeer, Nanreshsing
Sungkur, Anas
Aubdoolah, Heman Shamachurn, Ranghanarda Thielamay
of Sookdeo Bisoondoyal State College, Mauritius, together
with Gillian Cambers, Global Coordinator of Small Islands Voice
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