Au Cap Deaf school ready for re-opening |15 May 2020

From left to right: Mrs Hoareau, Ms David and Sir Calvin ready to welcome the children back to school

Au Cap Deaf School is all set and ready for re-opening on Monday May 18, 2020.

Our newspaper had a chat with the three teachers of the school – Shana David, Shireen Hoareau and Calvin Morel – to see how they are preparing themselves for the re-opening.

The teachers are following all guidelines given by the department of health and for the past two days they have cleaned the classroom and have removed all unused materials and furniture and put them in a designated store.

Seychelles NATION: How are you preparing for the re-opening?

Ms David, Mrs Hoareau and Sir Calvin: We teachers, are getting ourselves ready for the re-opening. We cater for eight deaf students, namely Kirsty Ernesta aged 14, Shanick Malvina aged 14, Samuel Morel aged 14, Lara Pauline aged 18, Marius Cedras aged 1, Aliya Hertel aged 4, Armani Sedgwick aged 7 and Mael Bacco aged 10. They will certainly be surprised with their new environment when they come to school on Monday. The wall which used to be full of bright paintings, lessons and drawing are now bare! Their usual sitting positions have changed in line with social distancing.

Seychelles NATION: What will you do differently?

Ms David, Mrs Hoareau and Sir Calvin: The ‘new normal’ will be quite challenging because deaf children learn through visual mode. They need to move when expressing themselves through sign language thus seeing a bare wall will be a shock for them and the markings on the floor will definitely affect sign language lessons because they move a lot especially during story telling. For the first week, we will focus more on teaching students about the new rules and most importantly we will organise talks and share sessions with the students about the COVID-19 pandemic. We are sure they will be full of questions. We must also stay alert to identify any distress that some may be going through because of the pandemic. They may have seen a lot on TV, but do not understand fully. If need be we will provide counselling.

Seychelles NATION: What about transportation?

Ms David, Mrs Hoareau and Sir Calvin: Most of the students use public bus to go to school but with the bus situation at the moment where drivers are taking in only a few people at a time, they may sometimes be left at the bus stops. Sir Calvin will be helping the students at the bus stops during the first week. The teachers will monitor the situation and will inform the parents if there are any problems. We take this opportunity to ask all parents for their cooperation and wish all students a happy return to school.

Vidya Gappy