New learning centre opens at Baie Ste Anne Praslin primary school |15 July 2021
Minister Valentin (centre) speaking at the opening of the centre (Photo: Romano Laurence)
The Praslinois community will soon enjoy more cost effective, virtual teaching and learning now that a new learning centre has opened its doors at the Baie Ste Anne primary school.
The centre which is a joint project of the Ministry of Education and Airtel was officially opened during a short ceremony held on Tuesday.
Minister for Education Dr Justin Valentin and chief executive of Airtel Africa PLC, Raghunath Mandava had the honour of opening the centre which comprises eight computers with internet connection donated by Airtel.
This project was made possible after Minister Valentin met with Amadou Dina, managing director of Airtel Seychelles, to discuss collaboration possibilities between Airtel and his ministry.
Dr Valentin shared his aspirations to use technology for more effective teaching and learning and they both agreed on the setting up of this learning centre.
The project will surely make online learning more readily available to the Praslinois community and thus reduce travelling costs and constraints involved in venturing to Mahe for advanced studies, especially for working professionals. Ultimately, it shall also benefit the Baie Ste Anne school teachers and pupils.
“When the minister explained to us his vision, we were very honoured to partner with the Ministry of Education. Eventually we will set up a similar centre on Mahe for televised learning through connectivity with this centre. And in the future, if all works well, we will consider a centre on La Digue as well,” Mr Mandava told everyone present.
“Today’s ceremony is the start of a very ambitious project between the Ministry of Education and Airtel. Our idea is to bring learning closer to the Praslin community. In principle, there are many students or adults who would like to come to Mahe to study. But the costs of travelling to attend one session a day per week is becoming more and more costly. So the idea is to have this centre on Praslin so that anybody who would like to follow a course on Mahe could remain on Praslin and carry on with the programme,” Minister Valentin explained.
He went on to add that this venture is also in partnership with the University of Seychelles which will be designing programmes specifically for this centre in the future.
“As the Baie Ste Anne school is hosting this centre, we would like the school to also benefit from the facilities,” Minister Valentin pointed out.
He has expressed his sincere gratitude to Airtel for making this project possible and for vowing to continuously support the centre and consider introducing new centres on other islands in the future.
When asked about the value of the donation, Mr Amadou Dina said: “the value of this project lies in the impact it will have on the community rather than its financial value. Today we have chosen the Praslin community because we know there is a huge demand for this. There is no limit for supporting the people and actually Airtel is coming closer to the inner islands communities with the opening of new branches on Praslin and La Digue.”
For her part Monique Lesperance, the head teacher of the school, thanked the Ministry of Education and Airtel for the donation which she said will be very beneficial to the Baie Ste Anne school and Praslinois communities.
She has called on the pupils to make good use of the facilities and avail of the great opportunity to deepen their knowledge while always having in mind the Airtel motto ‘What we do today will define our tomorrow’.
Nadia Bedier and Romano Laurence
