The impressive journey of Ishani Jagessur

Air Mauritius has recently taken delivery of its first Airbus A350. In this field, we have our own young Mauritian lady, Ishani Jagessur, who has worked on Airbus A350-900 as an engineer. After this piece of news broke out, many Mauritian students have contacted her for guidance in the aeronautical field.

Let’s have a look at the journey of Ishani: from a normal Mauritian school girl to a reputed Air-Bus engineer, and how current engineering students can get inspired from her journey. And what are the options in Mauritius if some students want to go for aeronautical studies and how do the experts see the future of this field?

Ishani is not the first engineer from our small island to join Air-Bus. Many other Mauritian citizens have been employed by Air-Bus and Boeing earlier. But surely, aeronautics is a field which still remains unexplored by most of our students. There are very few courses available at a couple of universities. With only one airport and one carrier Air-Mauritius and Mauritius being a very small place, the prospects in this field are limited but for those students who dream of aeronautics, nobody can limit them. For them, the sky is definitely the limit.

Ishani’s story

Ishani studied for her HSC at the Dunputh Lallah State Secondary School, Curepipe. Her favourite subject was Physics. After completing her HSC, she decided to go for mechanical engineering studies and France was her first choice. She was good in science and she wanted to study something related to physics. Since her father worked at the airport as a fire officer, exposure with aeroplanes from childhood fascinated her. Aeroplanes always made her feel free. So she decided to go for aeronautics but still, there are so many branches in this field. Her father introduced her to his friends at airport, which helped Ishani to decide on her stream. Many people advised her to go for maintenance. Ishani knew it was easy for her to do this and stay home after her studies, as maintenance of aircraft is done in Mauritius, but they are not built here. She was more interested in the process of seeing an aircraft come into life rather than just its maintenance. Everyone in her family and circle of friends supported her decision.  

Scope for science

Ishani says: “Frankly speaking, when I left Mauritius in 2008, I wanted to come back but now I don’t see myself returning to Mauritius.” Only a few options are available here, such as teaching and may be conducting some research on her own, but there are yet no full-fledged jobs for science students. Moreover, Mauritius does not possess good Infrastructure for research. According to Ishani, there is so much scope in renewable energy and environment for research in Mauritius. “Government should make science its priority, only then students like me can come back,” she vociferates.

Studying abroad

Ishani adds: “Our Mauritian education is very good, as I had a strong base when I first went to France for higher studies. I also had the advantage of being able to use English language, as compared to French students. My only weakness was in mathematics. Ishani advises that if any student from Mauritius wants to enter the field of aeronautics, then he or she should work hard on maths. She also recommends learning driving and cooking before leaving Mauritius.

Dream of a girl

After an article related to Ishani was published in our local press, many students contacted her for guidance. One girl, an Upper Six student, also wants to pursue her studies in aeronautics but her parents thinks that this is a male domain. Ishani says: “I was so disappointed to hear that. There is no such thing in our world like a girl’s job or a boy’s job. Just follow your dreams and make your own path.”

The Aeronautical Society of Mauritius

Anand Kinnoo, Secretary AeSM, says Mauritius is a small country with very minute prospects of growth in aeronautical fields. “We don’t design aircraft in Mauritius, we only do maintenance of the aircraft. But most of the students want to go for aircraft engineering for which they go abroad to study and normally never return due to lack of job prospects. And this is the reality. I don’t see many prospects, with very limited space on the island. That’s why we set up this society, ‘The Aeronautical Society of Mauritius’, so that people from the aviation background can meet. Some of us had links with the iconic aeronautical society ‘The Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS)’. We meet regularly and organise events to promote interest in this field. Recently, we held a workshop with the pilots of A350. Currently, we are just a group of the people who love the aviation industry.”

Conclusion

The carrier has named its first A350 "Le Morne Brabant." Let’s hope this new beginning also gives hope to many hearts who want to fly like aeroplanes in the sky, where truly the sky is the limit. It is indeed a pride to celebrate the achievement of a Mauritian citizen abroad.

By Savita Tiwari