Will Mauritian Creole ever be allowed in parliament? This question is once again at the centre of the debate on 28 October.
Indeed, since 1983, 28 October is the occasion to celebrate the Creole language and culture across countries and communities that share the Creole language. More than 10 million people are involved.
In Mauritius, for several years now, the Creole language has been catching up, especially with the appearance of the Creole dictionary by Professor Arnaud Carpooran. The first edition was published in 2009, the second in 2011 and the last in 2019.
In addition, Creole was introduced into the school curriculum, in 2012 in primary schools, and in 2018 in secondary schools. And since 2014 at the University.
Several specialists also maintain that the kreol festival, which has become an annual event since 2006, continues to promote Creole culture.
The issue of Creole in the Mauritian Parliament was raised on 7 July 2020 in the Chamber. In response to a question from MMM MP Reza Uteem, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth argued that in order for Creole to be used in parliament, it is necessary to ensure that parliamentarians and staff of the National Assembly receive appropriate training in the language.
He also pointed out that ‘an Akademi Kreol Repiblik Moris was established in May 2019 under the Ministry of Education to monitor the development and use of the Creole language. One of the objectives of the Akademi Kreol Repiblik Moris is precisely to further develop the spelling, grammar, lexicon, usage and standards of Kreol Morisien.
Again this year, Ledikasyon Pu Travayer (LPT) reiterates its call to Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth to have Kreol introduced in Parliament as an official language, on the same level as English. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the LPT leaders hope that the Head of Government will announce, on Tuesday 26 October, an amendment to the Constitution in this sense.
It is worth remembering that the ‘Ledikasion pu Travayer’ collective has already translated the Standing Orders into Kreol. For Alain Ahvee, there is no doubt that Kreol will soon be among the authorised languages in the hemicycle.
