Children’s Day - Children celebrate their day with joy |31 May 2014

Yesterday was party time for all the children in schools across Seychelles as they celebrated Children’s Day, which this year falls on a Sunday (tomorrow).

The occasion was celebrated across the country with lots of joy, snacks, singing and dancing and all the teachers were honouring the children. We could only feel love while visiting some of the schools on Mahé.

Children's Day is recognised on various days in many places around the world to honour children globally. It was first proclaimed by the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in 1925 and then established universally in 1954 to protect an "appropriate" day.
 
International Day for the Protection of Children, observed in many countries as Children's Day on June 1 since 1950, was established by the Women's International Democratic Federation on its congress in Moscow on November 22, 1949. Seychelles, along with several other countries, adopted June 1 as the date to promote the wellbeing of children.

Seychelles Nation went on a quick round at a few schools on Mahé to see how the day was progressing. At Glacis primary school, the class P1-2 of Miss Mary Anne Dubel and Miss Gedea Larue were all dancing after they had some specials snacks contributed by the parents.

Same scenario at the P1 class of Bel Ombre school.  
At La Rosière, the children of P2-3 already had their lunch and they were all on the floor with their teacher, Christelle Bibi, for some sega dancing.
At Bel Eau primary school all the children were divided into groups under the veranda with their respective teachers. Some were having their lunch, others were playing while some more were dancing with their teachers.

Miss Sheryl and Miss Agnes decided to join forces to celebrate this special day with the children of their two different classes.

“The ambiance is more dynamic and the children play a lot more and enjoy a lot more. Food is special and the parents contributed a lot,” said Miss Sheryl.

The youngest private school, Trotters Stop Montessori Pre-School, also commemorated Children’s Day yesterday with a host of activities for its pupils to celebrate childhood and promote awareness of children’s welfare.

“We often forget that there are millions of children around the world who do not have basic privileges like education. This is an important day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children, and a day to celebrate their innocence and childhood,” Trotters Stop Montessori Pre-School principal Poonam Verma said.

In line with its ethos for a unique Montessori and contemporary teaching approach, Trotters Stop upholds the notion that children have the right to maintain a deep connection with the natural world that helps them feel part of something greater than themselves, and that fosters compassion and empathy.
The accompanying photographs show the ambiance at some of the schools we visited.