Winners of sustainability video contest rewarded |13 September 2021
The winners in a souvenir photograph with guests (Photo: Joena Meme)
Andrea Visvanathan from the International School Seychelles (ISS) has won first prize in a worldwide sustainability video challenge for the primary school category.
The competition was organised by Trust for Sustainable Living (TSL) under the theme ‘Protecting the Biodiversity’.
The eight-year-old student was among some top prize winners who collected their prizes in a ceremony held on Friday afternoon at the Seychelles Institute for Teacher Education (SITE).
They had participated at primary and secondary level in TSL’s sustainability video challenge, international essay, international debate and national debate.
Yan Morel, also from ISS, was runner up in the video competition for the secondary category.
There were 59 countries participating in all TSL’s competition for 2021.
Present at the prize giving ceremony were Dr Odile Decomarmond, the principal secretary for Education Services; Ambassador Marie-Pierre Lloyd, TSL trustee; directors general, eco-school leaders, teachers, students, sponsors among other guests.
TSL is a global education charitable organisation based in the United Kingdom (UK) that promotes sustainable development goals and believes strongly that it can be achieved through education. Every year TSL comes up with a theme in line with the SDG goals and the theme for 2021 is ‘Protecting Biodiversity’.
“I feel very happy because I worked very hard on this video. The prize means everything to me. I just thought I had to do something for the biodiversity to stop it from going away because it is a very important part of us,” said Andrea, who took four days to shoot the video on the effect of deforestation and sea pollution in relation to the extinction of land and marine species.
For the international essay competition, Seychelles did very well with students reaching the top ten out of 1350 entries for the primary category. Nine-year-old Betty Namukose from ISS came out in 3rd position while Thara Andre from Beau Vallon primary school took the 6th position. Darnell Vincent from ISS came out in 8th position. Gaelle Docteur from Anse Etoile primary school and who also made it to the final was also rewarded.
The essay competition was launched in 2020 for primary and secondary schools across the world with the theme: ‘How we can protect biological diversity and stop the 6th mass extinction’.
“I feel very happy I represented Seychelles and won the third prize. The prize means a lot to me as I spent a lot of effort to put all my words together and now I am confident to say that I have touched the world,” said Betty Namukose, who took two months to write her essay.
As was the case in 2020, this year again, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the TSL international debate was held online on July 5 for primary students and July 6 for secondary students worldwide. They were placed in teams together with other international students to discuss and present their arguments. Seychelles had primary students Betty Namukose (ISS) and Thara Andre (Beau Vallon primary) and Dorianne Bristol (Mont Fleuri secondary) and Vanshika Parikh (ISS) debating in the competition.
Betty Namukose received the prize for the Judges Group Commendation for Best Comprehensive Arguments in the primary category while her compatriot Thara Andre won for the Best Evidence-Based arguments and Creative Solutions.
For the secondary category, Dorianne Bristol won for Best Clarity and Applicability Argument and Vanshika Parikh won the prize for the ‘Best Content’.
The TSL national debate competition was held on July 24, 2021 for primary schools and July 25, 2021 for secondary schools via the zoom platform, on the theme ‘Global biodiversity is in crisis – What can we do to help prevent the sixth mass extinction’. For the primary category, the prize for the ‘Best Presentation and Best Understanding’ went to Betty Namukose (ISS) while the prize for ‘Best Creativity’ was won by Arnand Narayan (Mont Fleuri primary). The prize for ‘Best Contribution to Debate’ went to Laura Bergnann (Anse Boileau primary).
The ‘Best Overall Group’ which demonstrated great team work presenting very good arguments and evidence-based rebuttals which reflected a great understanding of the theme, was won by Chloe Bonnelame Hoareau (Bel Eau primary), Hannah Mouhoussoune (Cascade primary), Zoe François (Glacis primary), Mashia Larue (Perseverance primary) and Narim Marley (La Retraite primary).
In the secondary category, the ‘Best Presentation’ went to Whitney Padayachy from English River secondary while Vanshika Parikh from ISS won the prize for ‘Best Creativity’.
For ‘Best Understanding’ the prize went to Melchizedek Solin from Pointe Larue secondary and Daniel Bedier from English River secondary took the prize for ‘Best Contribution to Debate’.
Vanshika Parikh and Janani Jagnannathan from ISS and Dorianne Bristol and Anand Regina from Mont Fleuri secondary school, won the prize for ‘Best Overall Group’.
On behalf of Minister Justin Valentin who could not make it to the ceremony, PS Decomarmond stated that the TSL competition prompted deep reflection among the students as their contributions reveal that they do understand the importance to safeguard our biological diversity and to prevent a sixth mass extinction.
“Education is unquestionably a powerful tool to educate and empower our future generations so that they can make informed decision that will benefit the world,” PS Decomarmond said, noting that our country, among many small island developing states, depends on such biodiversity for livelihood and economic growth.
She thanked the students for having shown resilience amid the Covid-19 pandemic to best voice their concern on protecting biodiversity.
Patrick Joubert