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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

7th National Education Conference-Ministry acts before concerns are raised |13 May 2005

7th National Education Conference-Ministry acts before concerns are raised

Mrs Mondon addressing the participants at the close of the conference Thursday   

In their presentations during the 7th National Education Conference, the graduates, who conducted research in local schools for their thesis, said issues like lack of motivation among some teachers affected the education process and needed to be looked at.

When closing the conference Thursday at the National Institute of Education, however, the principal secretary for Education & Human Resources Development Department Macsuzy Mondon (PS) said that the ministry has already started working on some of the issues raised, for example teacher retention, workload and lack of motivation among others.

"We have started providing assistant teachers to ease the workload of those already working and we are implementing the Education Act," she told Seychelles Nation.

She said that the schools section is also looking at the structures within the divisions and reviewing them.

Misbehaviour among pupils and students was cited as one of the causes of poor motivation among some teachers, but the PS said that in addition to the Act which is addressing many of the issues, the department of Education has just reviewed disciplinary behaviour policy for schools. She said copies of the revised policy are already being dispatched to schools.

She thanked the conference's keynote speaker Professor Tony Bush and his fellow facilitator, assistant lecturer Dawn Quist of the University of Lincoln whom she referred to as critical friends and the conference participants for their pertinent presentations.

Before Mrs Mondon officially closed the conference, which was held under the theme "Educational Leadership: Empowering Schools", Ms Quist commended the ministry for allowing such debate as prevailed during the conference, noting it could not have been comfortable for the leadership, but said it showed foresightedness on their part.

She said the deliberations will help improve school management, and described the research carried out by the participants as relevant and of high quality.

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