Follow us on:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube

Archive -Education

Education minister calls on social media users to report on good, positive things pupils do |16 June 2018

Social media users should not only portray and post negative things that school children do, but should focus more on all the good things many students are doing, their achievements on both local and international level, Minister Jeanne Siméon has said.

Education and Human Resource Development Minister Jeanne Siméon said teachers and other staff who are encouraging students to perform well should also get our support and encouragement to motivate them to continue motivating the students.

Minister Siméon was speaking during a visit she conducted yesterday at the Seychelles Institute for Teacher Education (Site).

She made this comment after she was asked by the media on what her ministry is doing to deal with anti-social behaviours like bullying and fights in schools, especially after articles on students trying to poison a teacher at the Plaisance primary school and more recently a fight between two students on the balcony of the Mont Fleuri school were posted on social media.

“We are aware of those incidents and the schools are dealing with the matters in question, but they are not the norms and they don’t happen regularly as we are made to believe. But still it’s alarming for the ministry and we have our strategic plan in place and we are working to address such incidents in schools,” she said, noting that these incidents are the results of anti-social ills in the community and in homes and are then manifested in schools.

Minister Siméon said it takes time to change certain characteristics in the behaviours and mindsets of these students and that the ministry has been doing a lot to try to curb anti-social behaviours in schools.

She noted that the ministry condemns all forms of anti-social behaviours in schools.

The minister added that many good things are happening in our schools but we dwell only on bad things and most of the time it is only one incident that gives the school a bad image, minutes after it has been posted on social media.

“People should get their facts right and this incident at Plaisance primary school was an innocent prank you may call it but the way it was portrayed on social media, one would get the impression that the two students are criminals and the other bits and pieces added with the story about people ending up in hospital are not true,” she added

“I call on people who use the social media to not only show the negative but to also show the good side of things happening in schools so as to encourage and motivate our students,” said Minister Siméon who added that a child’s education is not only the responsibility of the ministry of education but also that of the parents, the community and other stakeholders.   

 

 

 

 

» Back to Archive