More knowledge to be acquired on youth residential programme |22 March 2018

The Ministry for Family Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development is organising a six-week youth residential training programme for candidates who will be working with the youths on a residential and alternative education programme.

The aim of the training is to prepare the candidates, through the eyes of international experts, with more knowledge and skills that will help them to better understand how to tackle disciplinary problems among youths and how to cope with them.

It will help them to inculcate good values in the children they will mentor when they eventually start work at the proposed Youth Hope Residential Centre to be built later at Cap Ternay.

Launching the programme, Family Affairs Minister Jeanne Simeon thanked the participants for choosing to take a new crossroad to join a helping and caring profession aimed at changing the lives of children and youths in difficulty.

“You all have various training backgrounds. You are mature adults and have different life experiences. You have much to share and much to build on. Believe in yourselves, believe that you can make an impression on the children that will be entrusted to you as this will convey confidence to allow you to mould them to discover themselves and the potentials they have,” Minister Simeon said.

Education principal secretary, Dr Odile Decommarmond, said that even though with little training, a lot has been done since the implementation of the alternative education programme.

She noted that the training will be a big boost to capacity building for the function of both the residential and day programme that will run alongside each other.

Dr De Commarmond added that the public, parents and students should show appreciation and support to what is being done to get the youths to become responsible citizens.

The training is being facilitated by Franck Underwood, a trained social worker and educator who heads a centre providing services to youths with difficult behaviour in France and has extensive experience in providing such training. He is being assisted by his wife Chantal, who is also a trained and well experience social worker.

The participants attending the training come from various sectors, which in one way or another had worked with young people before.

Since the closure of the Youth Residential Treatment Progamme (YRTC) on Praslin in 2008, the youth alternative education programme is being undertaken by MOEHRD in partnership with the Seychelles Defence Academy. 

Youths with bad behaviour have to undergo a mandatory and disciplinary stay at the academy as part of the rehabilitation programme, which is based purely on discipline. This arrangement has been going on for the past six years.

Present at the launch ceremony held at Care House was the principal secretary for Social Affairs, Linda William Melanie, other officials from both ministries and the participants for the training.