Education Minister Dr Justin Valentin visits Trotters Stop at Ile Du Port |14 December 2021

More focus on the recovery and revitalisation of the educational system

From now on the Ministry of Education will draw on lessons learned from the unprecedented experience due to the Covid-19 pandemic and will build new knowledge and approaches for the future.

Minister Justin Valentin shared the new approach yesterday, following the last phase of his technical visits around various educational institutions in the country to identify pertinent issues affecting teaching and learning especially with adjustment within the education system to adapt with the Covid-19 pandemic.

On his last visit yesterday, Minister Valentin toured the Trotters Stop at Ile Du Port.

Founded in 2010, Trotters Stop offers a British curriculum with an ideal blend of teaching methods and outdoor experiences to help broaden and nurture growing minds.

The concept behind Trotters Stop is quite simple with a curriculum designed to enrich the inquisitive mind of a growing child.

Minister Valentin, who was accompanied by the principal secretary for the education sector development John Lesperance, director for education resource development Dr Linda Barallon and director of education for strategic priorities Alex Souffe was welcomed by the school’s founder and principal Poonam Verma.

Yesterday’s visit also coincided with the end of the last academic session or end of the academic year for 2021.

The education minister noted that 2021 has been a very challenging year and the educational institutions have felt the impact to a large extent, while suffering the loss of colleagues and friends.

He explained that the professionals have been challenged in several ways, while the students have suffered the consequences but have managed to deal with the situation.

“We are all more experienced than we were last year in dealing with a pandemic and we have demonstrated our resilience,” noted Minister Valentin who further added that despite all the challenges, we have accomplished a lot.

He commended all the school governance and management teams, all school workers and students for their fantastic role in dealing with the pandemic and abiding by the public health regulations.

Minister Valentin also thanked all parents for bearing with the schools.

He added that at one point, the Ministry of Education sought the understanding of all stakeholders and gladly got it.

Regarding the visits, Minister Valentin said they have enabled him and his team to understand and appreciate schools from the workers’ perspective and that they will continue next year, with more interactive sessions so that they learn more together and develop better models of engagement.

He explained that they are also aimed at networking between teachers from state and private schools, where experiences and knowledge can be shared.

Minister Valentin said teachers from state schools can benefit from the international perspective and scope of work of their colleagues from private schools since most of them are foreign-curriculum oriented, all in the effort to establish partnerships to revitalise the educational environment.

To conclude, Minister Valentin noted that we must win and that our children must gain from the system we are creating.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of Minister Valentin’s visit to the Trotters Stop.

Roland Duval

Photos by Louis Toussaint