Professional centres to accept more students next year |19 August 2020

The meeting in progress (Photos: Jude Morel)

President Danny Faure yesterday met stakeholders to discuss how to address youth unemployment and their difficulties in getting a job.

Present at the meeting held at State House were representatives from the department of employment, Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, Ministry of Family Affairs, Agency for Social Protection, and the Seychelles Employee Transition Scheme (Sets).

Speaking to press after the meeting were Letimie Dookley, director general employment promotion; Dr Linda Barallon, principal secretary for tertiary education and human resource development; Jossianne Bristol, principal of the Seychelles Business Studies Academy (SBSA) and Guy Morel, project manager for Sets.

“The Ministry of Education has put in place a structure to make sure that more students leaving S5 are going to post-secondary instead of going to work,” said Ms Dookley.

Noting that there are 125 young people on the Skills Development Programme that are having a hard time getting employment, she noted that through approval from the cabinet of ministers they will be absorbed into governmental organisations.

“We have 292 people between the ages of 15-18 on the skills Development Programme who have either dropped out of school or did not meet the necessary criteria to get into a post-secondary institution. They are the ones facing the most difficulties getting employment as they have no working skills,” said Ms Dookley.

On her part Dr Barallon said that we are living in a new normal and we need to have a place to develop the skills of young people so that they can have a career later on. She noted that every year there are 800 students who go to post-secondary every year but the intake capacity for most centres are 1100 students so there is enough space for students.

The PS added that the criteria for the post-secondary institutions will not change as many institutions have conditional offers and offer short courses.

“The directors of these institutions were also present to tell us about some of the difficulties their institutions will have through the increase of students that they will have in 2021. They were given one week to look at what they will need when it comes to resources and proper facilities, money, and equipment,” said PS Barallon.

She continued by saying “We have also discussed the allowances that students will get in order to encourage them to join a post-secondary school rather than going on the Unemployment Relief Scheme.”

She noted that the post-secondary is not downgrading the quality of education they will give but they will have a leeway where they’ll be able to give entry based on conditional offers and will be more flexible.

Courses on offer will range from certificates, apprenticeship to diploma.

Ms Bristol on her part noted that SBSA is adding new courses in order to accommodate more students, adding that for 2021 six programmes will be added.

She noted that the allowance given should not be the only reason for these students to apply for post-secondary but should also be because they want to better themselves and develop their skills for a better future.

Christophe Zialor