Children’s Day at the School for the Exceptional Child Minister intent about change in school’s programme as from 2023 |02 June 2022
Ms Moncherry with Minister Valentin after the handover of the new album
After two years of not celebrating Children’s Day, the special occasion was this year honoured with fervour and enthusiasm at the School for the Exceptional Child (SEC) with a special guest, the Minister for Education, Dr Justin Valentin.
A new album ‘Fer zanfan kado en sanson’ was also launched yesterday.
The head teacher of SEC, Heidi Francourt, shared that her team was honoured to welcome the minister and his delegation for Children’s Day activity. “As our heart keeps our body alive, in the same way, the family is the heart of the community, a country and civilization. We all have to lend a hand to the community and help the families in the education of their children no matter what condition they are in.”
Minister Valentin said he chose the SEC to deliver his message as the Ministry of Education is promoting inclusivity at all levels. He thoroughly spoke about the development of the school programme.
“We have to have a school system that understands how to mix competencies, knowledge and ability but at the same time have a different programme. The society should be mixed and integrate people living with disabilities. I will work with the professionals and partners so that together we look into an integral inclusive plan for the ministry. We will also look into the other institutions catering for the people with special needs.”
Minister Valentin shared that this new inclusive programme will give hope to parents and the students as they will be able to mingle with other children and have more interactions.
The second point raised in his speech was how the Ministry of Education will focus on the development or Art, Culture and Sports and make them become subjects equal to other academic subjects.
“I am confident that this country will benefit more if we move in that direction and I am also confident that the country will produce more world champions. We will review the time-table, review school programmes and review the deployment of teachers. I will keep repeating that our children need a plan that reflect 2022 and I am working on that so that we can start 2023 with a new programme for the schools.”
The last topic Minister Valentin focused on was technology and e-learning. “Mobile phones have a place in learning and we need to help our children on how to use it well. As long as we will ban it, we will promote anti-social reactions. We are discussing about it and for now we should follow the code of conduct that already exists at school,” expressed the minister.
The principal secretary for Education Development, Merna Eulentin, also encouraged the students and the teachers in putting the needs of the children first and also to keep having hope for the best.
‘Fer zanfan kado en sanson’
Yesterday also saw the launch of the new album ‘Fer zanfan kado en sanson’. This project was managed by Belinda Moncherry. “When we started the project, we were still under restrictions due to the pandemic and many artists could not participate in the project due to their commitments. But in one year we were able to complete the project and hand it over to the minister,” noted Ms Moncherry.
The album features 12 songs from 12 artists – Ion Kid, Fastidious featuring Maria, Tania, Jahkim, Reggie, Theresia, Steevie, Sandra, Richie B, Terrence, Auspicious and One bite.
During the programme, the students of the SEC thoroughly enjoyed the songs and were dancing and accompanying their favourite artists.
The accompanying photos show some highlights at the SEC yesterday to mark Children’s Day.
Vidya Gappy
Photos by Louis Toussaint
