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Seychelles gears up for major conference on early childhood learning |14 February 2017

 

 

 

 

The highly anticipated ‘First International Biennial Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education’ will be held in Seychelles from February 16-18, 2017.

The official opening will take place at 5pm on Thursday February 16 at the Eden Bleu Hotel.

The conference is being jointly hosted by the Seychelles government, represented by the High Level ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) Policy Committee and the IECD (Institute for Early Childhood Development), in collaboration with key ECCE sectors and the Unesco-International Bureau of Education (Unesco-IBE).

The prestigious event will be graced by the presence of President Danny Faure, Vice-President Vincent Meriton, Designated Minister Macsuzy Mondon (who also holds the local government portfolio), Minister for Education and Human Resource Development Joel Morgan and dignitaries from the Unesco-IBE, Dr Mmantsetsa Marope (director of the Unesco-IBE) and Dr Hamood bin Khalfan Al- Harthi (President of the IBE Council).

International experts and delegates who have come a long way to share their knowledge, experience and practices on ECCE will also be present for the event.

During the opening of the conference, Seychelles through the IECD and the key ECCE sectors will be honoured as a Unesco-IBE best practice hub for ECCE through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Designated Minister Mondon and Dr Marope.

Guests will also have the opportunity to hear a special message from the director general for Unesco, Irina Bokova, during the ceremony.

Dances, poems and songs by children from various schools across the island will also mark the opening ceremony.

At the end of the ceremony a press conference giving ample information about the hub for best practice in ECCE will be held in a separate room at Eden Bleu.

The panel will consist of Designated Minister Mondon, Minister Morgan, Dr Marope and Shirley Choppy, chief executive of the IECD.

The main conference days will be held at the International Conference Centre where many high profile and renowned international speakers will take the stage to share their experience, knowledge and best practices on ECCE.

Friday February 17 will begin with a documentary on ECCE in Seychelles followed by a high level panel of key local providers of ECCE services. The highlight of day two is the key-note address by Dr Emily Vargas-Baron from the RISE Institute in the USA. She will talk about the ‘Development of a National System for Early Childhood Intervention’.

The conference highlighted session will see a series of presentations on ‘The Neuroscience of Early Childhood Development’. This will be facilitated by Professors Howard-Jones, D’Anguilli and Cunnington. Reports on Country Situation Analysis on the GEQAF (General Education Quality Analysis Framework) Project will be shared at the end of the second day.

Day three will see a presentation on Nutrition in ECCE by Professor José M. Saavedra, the chief medical officer at Nestle Nutrition, Switzerland. This will be followed by a series of work sessions which will be facilitated by all international speakers.

Countries like Azerbaijan, India, Egypt, Gabon, Oman and Saudi Arabia will share their achievements and challenges. A high-level roundtable and the implementation of a Joint Framework for Action are also on the agenda.

The third and final day of the First International Biennial Conference on ECCE will end with reflections by Dr Hamood Bin Khalfan Al-Harthi and the closing address by the Minister for Health and Social Affairs, Jean-Paul Adam.

Besides the main conference from February 16-18, the IECD alongside the key sectors in ECCE will be hosting a series of side eventswhich will complement the conference.

The aim of the side events is to provide the opportunity to other professionals in the ECCE sectors to take part in the conference and benefit from the presentations on various topics in ECCE by international experts.

The side events will take place from today, February 14, to February 16 at different locations and will be graced by international and local speakers from all over the world and Unesco-IBE.

In general, the side events will also serve as a platform for sharing experiences, knowledge and best practices in ECCE.

The first of such events will be a Critical Review on Progress and Achievements in Early Childhood Care and Education in Seychelles  which will take place today at the ICCS where international delegates and participants will learn more about what Seychelles has done and achieve in terms of ECCE.

An exhibition showcasing the progress and achievements in ECCE across all sectors will be launched tomorrow.

A debate by the youth of Seychelles is also on the programme with the aim of sensitising the young people about the importance of and taking up a career in ECCE.

 

 

 

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