Interview with the principal secretary for Education, Dr Odile de Commarmond Recorded TV programmes by Seychellois teachers to be aired as of this morning |20 April 2020

After the closure of all State schools as of March 16, 2020 due to COVID-19, the Ministry of Education made new arrangements for learning to continue at home. Homework was distributed to parents at the schools of their children and they were also able to go online to view videos related to their subjects. But as of today, starting at 9am, the students of Seychelles will be able to view special recorded educational programmes on their current syllabus which will be aired on SBC3 and Telesesel. The principal secretary for Education, Dr Odile de Commarmond, gives us more details about this second phase.

Seychelles NATION: Finally the students will be able to view the programmes recorded by Seychellois teachers, please tell us more about the programmes?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: In our first press conference, the Minister for Education, Jeanne Simeon, noted that the first phase in this special COVID-19 period was to distribute homework to the parents so that learning continues at home for the children. The second phase consists of having recorded lessons to be aired on television. Now we are ready with our first set of lessons which will start on Monday April 20, 2020 at 9am on SBC3 and Telesesel. The schedule of the programme will be shared in the media and also on the page of the Ministry of Education. The programmes were recorded by Toule Box freely and the ministry is grateful for such an act.

Seychelles NATION: What type of lessons are we expecting?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: For the first set we have prepared lessons for primary and secondary students. For the first week we have more secondary lessons but we are still in the process of recording. Two lessons will be aired per day and the lessons have been recorded by teachers from Mahé (10 primary and secondary) and Praslin (7 secondary teachers). The lessons will be conducted by the teachers who will be explaining the topics to the students followed by some explanatory videos and activities to be conducted at home. For the secondary students, we took mainly subjects/lessons that we know children have difficulties with and the lessons are from S1 to S5.

For primary level, we have only a few right now, but we are making arrangements to record more primary lessons in mathematics, science and language. We encourage all the children to listen and watch the lessons online.

Due to some restrictions, we were not able to go to La Digue but as from next (this) week three teachers from La Digue will do the recording. The Ministry of Education would like to say a special thank you to all the teachers who volunteered to do the recordings.

Seychelles NATION: Any feedback from parents and teachers regarding the lessons distributed before?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: Yes we have received lots of feedback from both teachers and parents. Some are positive and some gave us suggestions on how to improve this collaboration. Many teachers created WhatsApp group and they are following their students closely. Some are also giving the lessons via phone. We thank these teachers for going the extra-mile and the parents who are continuously supporting their children. We did receive some negative comments where the parents noted that the lessons were not sufficient. Some parents are also getting to know the level of understanding of their children. The comments we received for sure will encourage us to do better and to address the frailties.

Seychelles NATION: How are the teachers proceeding with the homework done? Is there any follow-up?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: There are some teachers who have access to their students’ work online. But we are also making provision for the teachers to mark the lessons completed by the children one week before the re-opening of the schools.

Seychelles NATION: Will COVID-19 bring any change to the learning of S5 students?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: For the time being it is too early to talk about that. We are waiting for the go ahead from the Ministry of Health and then we will see how we will adjust our school calendar in order for our children not to miss a lot in their learning.

Seychelles NATION: What about the preparation of children in day care centres moving to Crèche next year?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: Day care centres are private and their programmes are different. Once schools resume, our main objective will be to make sure that the students have the required skills to move to Crèche.

Seychelles NATION: Please tell us more about the school calendar itself?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: Officially as of last Friday, we are supposed to be on holiday. But we also know that all these days the students had been at home are also considered as holidays. How many weeks are left will depend on what the Ministry of Health will tell us! Our official entry will be when we get the go ahead from health. Regarding the August holidays, we still need to make adjustments and then we will communicate with the public. All depends on how much we are losing!

Seychelles NATION: What are the teachers doing while being confined at home?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: The Ministry of Education sent all teachers a communiqué including all advisories. Those following a course with SITE have their lessons to catch up with and now with time at hand, they can do that. They are also in contact with their tutors. We also have our school leaders who are doing their Masters and they are working directly with UniSey regarding their assignments and continuous work. We also advised the teachers to take this time to update their assessments, reading records and also to take this time to prepare their lessons for the coming term.

Seychelles NATION: What is the plan of the ministry for the re-opening of school?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: We are currently preparing for that and for sure we do have some preparations to do to restart the school.

Seychelles NATION: What will happen to the students who were supposed to take part in the May/June Cambridge Exams?

Dr Odile de Commarmond: Once the COVID-19 arrived in Seychelles, the Ministry of Education already informed Cambridge that our students will not be able to take part in these exams. They also replied saying that they are also cancelling the May/June exams for all countries. We called all the people who registered for these exams to offer them the option of re-registering for the October/November exams. Only one person cancelled her registration altogether out of the batch. We are also in constant communication with Cambridge on the updates.