PSAC 2026 in Mauritius: modules, papers and results

From a ranking contest to a certificate

The former certificate existed to rank pupils and allocate places in the most sought-after secondary schools. The competition it produced — and the private tuition industry that grew around it, reaching down into the early primary years — is what drove its replacement.

The PSAC certifies attainment rather than producing a national ranking. Transition to secondary school is guaranteed for pupils who complete the cycle, and selection into the most selective institutions is deferred to a later stage.

Assessment in two parts

The certificate combines two components:

• modular assessment, carried out during the course of schooling, covering the enquiry-based subjects, with part of the work done in class;
• end-of-cycle papers, sat in the final primary year.

The final papers cover English, French, mathematics and science. Candidates may in addition sit a paper in an Asian language — Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Mandarin — or in Kreol Morisien, according to the teaching they have followed.

A multilingual school system

Mauritian schooling is conducted in English, the language of written examinations, while French is both a subject and a language of everyday use. Kreol Morisien, the first language of most pupils, has been recognised as an optional subject since the reform came into force.

That configuration makes the PSAC one of the few primary leaving examinations anywhere in which a candidate may be assessed across three distinct language families.

Timetable and results

The Mauritian school year follows the calendar year: it opens in January and closes in December. The final papers are therefore sat in the last term, and results are released before the following intake.

They are issued by the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate, the public body responsible for national examinations, and passed on to schools for handing to families.

After the PSAC

Pupils move on to a regional secondary school for the first three years of secondary education, which end with the National Certificate of Education. It is at that point that selection into the academies — the schools reserved for the strongest results — takes place.

Pupils who have not reached the required level follow an extended pathway, designed to let them rejoin the mainstream cycle rather than leave the school system early.