Overview of the education sector in 2017 |29 December 2017

As 2017 nears its end and we look ahead to the New Year, many of us will reflect on progress made during the year.  The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development would like to share a brief overview of the main achievements of this year in line with its mandate.

Ministerial visits to educational institutions

During the year 2017 the Minister for Education and Human Resource Development Joel Morgan visited most of the educational institutions on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, whereby he held meetings with the senior management teams of the institutions and also visited the facilities and classrooms. Those visits gave the minister and his team greater insight on the situation of the educational institutions in regards to staffing, infrastructure, teaching, learning, resources as well as parental and community involvement.

One of the highlights of the visits was at the School for the Exceptional Child, where Minister Morgan officially opened the school’s computer room donated by East Indies. He also seized the opportunity to interact with the children of the school.

Following the ministerial visits, a number of issues raised have been rectified and actions taken or being taken in order to render educational institutions more conducive for teaching and learning. The visits will continue in 2018.

Regional public meetings

Wrap up of regional public meetings

Another significant activity was the series of public regional meetings held under the theme: ‘Education in Seychelles- Way Forward’. These meetings were conducted in five regions on Mahé, one on Praslin and one on La Digue, with the aim of obtaining the views of the different stakeholders in the quest to provide quality education to the citizens of Seychelles.  During the meeting on La Digue, the concept drawing of the new school was presented to the School Council, PTA, DA, La Digue Development chairperson and the school’s management for their inputs.

Examination results

Within the context of  President Danny Faure’s call for good governance, accountability and transparency in all ministries and governmental organisations, the ministry published for the first time in the local press all the results of the National, IGCSE and GCE A’ level examination results. Same was published on the ministry’s website; a practice which is to be maintained in the future.

Public Private Partnership - Water fountain Project

The water fountain project in the school was launched with the aim of providing school children with access to free, clean and safe drinking water every day during school hours, making it easier for them to meet their daily water requirement, a minimum of eight glasses per day.  The water fountain project was made possible through funds raised during the 2016 Regatta event organised by Seychelles Round Table in partnership with Air Seychelles.  A total of one hundred water fountains were purchased, distributed and installed in all the state schools on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue.

Other major achievements include:

• Audit of Medium Term Strategic Plan 2013-2017 was conducted with the aim to inform the development of the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan;
• Revision in the Teacher Scheme of Service fully operational January 2019 subject to approval to fund by MOFTBE, implementation of the Marketable Skills allowance effective 01/07/2018;
• Internal Delineation of Administrative responsibilities in preparation for the implementation of the new model of School Governance to be enacted in January 2018;
• Revision of the Education Act 2004 to include accountability of all stakeholders in the education process;
• The ministry officially received a grant of R8 million worth of stationery and ICT equipment from the Indian government;
• Revision of the S5 selection process to better cater for the emerging Tertiary Education landscape;
• Introduction of English as a medium of instruction for mathematics as of P1 since term 2 for a smoother transition from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2;
• The ministry developed an anti-bullying policy at the level of educational institutions to eliminate the instances of bullying in schools and ensure that students who are in need of specialised help are supported through the three behaviour intervention programmes in place;
• The National Human Resource Development Strategy Project Steering Committee chaired by Minister Morgan was set up.  A five-year Human Resource Development Policy and Human Resource Strategy have been developed and validated;
• The proposal to increase the allowance for A’ Level graduates was approved by Cabinet in June 2017;
• Cabinet approved the proposal for the five best performers from professional centres to pursue Tertiary Education and Training or Internship locally or abroad;
• The Revised Government of Seychelles Scholarship Award Scheme was approved by Cabinet in September 2017 and is currently at the Office of the Attorney General being drafted into law;
• An‘Aware Session for Tertiary Education and Training’ whereby 19 universities took part was organised;
• The Seychelles Business Studies Academy (SBSA) received Full Accreditation Status by the Seychelles Qualifications Authority (SQA) in November;
• The ministry was officially presented with the keys to a Nissan Leaf electric car donated by the Office of the President through the Children’s Special Fund (CSF) to allow the ICT section staff within the Department of Education to be mobile in order to carry out their work effectively.

Bilateral /Multilateral cooperation

• The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development signed over 10 MoU with overseas institutions mainly for exchange of staff, students, recruitment of teachers and educational materials, research activities and capacity building in teacher education and training;
• Over 50 participants including ministry officers and teachers attended overseas training workshops for capacity building in education and training in different fields of the education sector organised mainly by Unesco, SADC, Jica and Itec (India);
• The ministry participated at two major international conferences: Open Educational Resources (OER) in September in Slovenia and the 39 General Conference of Unesco in November in Paris;
• The ministry hosted the First International Biennial Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in collaboration with International Bureau for Education (IBE) Unesco in February, attended by over 60 overseas delegates and experts from Africa, Europe and Australia and over 100 national ECCE participants.

Side events included seminars for sharing of experiences and best practices by ECCE experts and an exhibition entitled ‘ECCE In Action’ depicting Seychelles’ major milestones in ECCE organised in joint collaboration with Health, Social Affairs sectors and Seychelles Institute for Early Childhood Development (IECD);

• The ministry welcomed a high level IBE-Unesco mission in October, led by the director of IBE and international experts for a scoping mission for follow up action in the ministry’s three priority intervention areas: Competency Based Approach (CBA), ICT in education and learning and Early Childhood Care Education.

The ministry wholeheartedly thanks all its staff, Council and PTA members, parents, students and partners for their contributions and support throughout 2017 and wish them all a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year 2018.

Caption:

Wrap up of regional public meetings

Concept drawing of the new La Digue school

Launch of water fountain project in March

Minister Morgan at the School for the Exceptional Child

Minister Morgan officially accepts the car for ICT