Minister welcomes new initiatives towards better learning |06 July 2018

Teachers and management staff are positively well engaged in the learning process and are coming up with new initiatives to help create a more conducive learning place for the students, the education minister has said.

Minister for Education and Human Resource Development Jeanne Simeon was speaking after familiarisation visits at two primary schools yesterday.

She visited the La Retraite primary school, followed by the Anse Etoile primary school.

Minister Simeon was accompanied on yesterday’s visits by her special advisor Merida Delcy, director general for primary schools Cyril Pillay and project consultant in the Ministry of Education, Jones Belmont.

The two visits were to render support and motivation to the school management team, teaching and non-staff, along with students.

They were also focused on the needs of the two schools and programmes geared towards supporting the schools to acquire the expected results from the students.

On her first stop at the La Retraite primary school, Minister Simeon was welcomed by school head teacher Nadia Marcel, while head teacher Jacqueline Celestine led her around the Anse Etoile primary, where they both gave Minister Simeon an insight on what both schools are doing to boost the learning process.

Other than visiting the classes and interact with the children, Minister Simeon also discussed with the schools’ management teams on how to improve on learning methods, along with possible facilities and infrastructure needed in the learning process.

Being out of the education ministry for some years, Minister Simeon said she now wants to re-familiarise herself and catch up with new developments presently going on in the system.

One of the main points she discussed with the management teams was their preparation for the next phase in the education system which is school autonomy, whereby every school will be responsible for their own running, while the ministry will only act as a facilitator.

This, she said, will require more involvement of parents and the community as a whole.

“The education of a child is shared responsibility between the school, the parents, the ministry and even the community,” she added.

Minister Simeon also encouraged more parents to become active and play a leading role in their children’s learning.

The La Retraite primary school has now 218 pupils, divided into 13 classes, along with 38 members of staff, while the Anse Etoile primary is responsible for the learning of 468 pupils in 20 classes, along with 50 staff members.

The accompanying photos show Minister Simeon and her delegation on her visits yesterday to the two schools.