Chat with Dr Odile de Comarmond: |07 January 2022

Dr Odile de Comarmond

‘I worked with my heart, diligently and my focus was on the children of Seychelles’

After 44 years, Dr Odile de Comarmond retires from the Ministry of Education. She leaves her position with her head held high after accomplishing several projects and successfully managing the pandemic situation. To honour her work, Seychelles NATION had a chat with Dr Odile de Comarmond at her house at Au Cap. She is already enjoying her retirement by harvesting fresh fruits and vegetables from her garden and also fishing with her family.

Seychelles NATION: Dr de Comarmond it is sad to see you leave after the immense contribution you made towards the education of this country. Please brief our readers on your career.

Dr Odile de Comarmond: I started as a supply teacher for the early childhood and then I went for my training. Then I started teaching in primary five. I soon left for further studies where I specialised in history in Moscow, Russia for 6 years. I then graduated with a Masters in History. Back in Seychelles, I started teaching history at the Mont Fleuri secondary school and then moved to Plaisance secondary with the opening of the regional school up to 1994. After that I moved to the curriculum development section of the Ministry of Education. I worked in the curriculum development for history and also wrote textbooks. In 1999, I moved to teachers training at the National Institute of Education (NIE) as a lecturer. In 2004, I went to Australia for a Masters in Education and I did my thesis in teacher training programmes. Before going to Australia, I was the head of faculty for educational studies at the NIE. In 2005, I was appointed assistant director for studies at NIE. I kept that position until 2009 when I left for my PHD in New Zealand at the University of Canterbury. My PhD lasted for four years because of the earthquake that happened in 2011. I came back end 2012 and in 2013 I was appointed director general for the Centre for Curriculum and Assessment and Teacher Support. I led that division until my appointment as principal secretary in November 2016. In 2017, they split the position and I was overseeing only early childhood, primary and secondary up to 2020 with the appointment of the new minister and the new structure. Then I became PS for Educational Services.

Seychelles NATION: During your tenure, you had to face a major challenge such as the Covid-19 pandemic and everybody was expecting highly from the Ministry of Education. How did you and your team manage the situation?

Dr Odile de Comarmond: When the pandemic hit, we worked very closely with the Ministry of Health so that we could come up with a plan. For Education, there were four different task forces that were appointed: for post-secondary schools; for early childhood, primary and secondary; for the headquarters and for IECD. The teams were dynamic and we developed all the standard operating procedures. We worked a lot to ensure the readiness of all schools and we also trained staff to cope with the situation such as screening, security and cleaning services. We had to look for sponsors for hand washing facilities in the schools. Compared to a lot of countries where they had to close down schools, for us we maintained the opening of schools even if it was for alternate weeks. We had to assess the situation as we went along. We had lots of school visits and every now and then we had to ensure we had contact time with the students. We also organised filming of lessons through Michel Toule and also made copies of lessons available for those who do not have access to internet.

Teachers also had to change their ways of teaching and created WhatsApp groups. It has been an experience and for us, I should say it was very successful. We know that some teachers were more active than others, which is normal and the head teachers assisted the teachers in the virtual learning. It was very stressful but we managed the situation very well.

Seychelles NATION: Another major event that marked your tenure as PS was the success rate of IGCSE and A-Level during the pandemic. To what extent were you involved in that?

Dr Odile de Comarmond: The number of ‘A’ stars was excellent and we managed to get the number of students for scholarships. For this we had to ensure that we get additional resources for the students with the facilitation of internet packages and we also did some training for the lecturers. The students also took their studies seriously and managed to find resources through the links. We were in touch with Cambridge to get additional support and we did everything we could to ensure that teachers organised additional classes for the students. Some schools even developed apps and also had video classrooms.

Seychelles NATION: During the last five years, we have seen an increase in the collaboration between the ministry/schools and the community. You were a pillar in that and what was your vision in doing so?

Dr Odile de Comarmond: We wanted to strengthen this partnership because moving towards autonomy, it is important for the schools to have close collaboration with their communities. We encouraged that and I am happy to say that it worked very well for many schools. Schools have been receiving many donations such as furniture, laptops, tablets, hygienic materials, libraries, medicinal gardens among others. What we did before Covid, which was a success, was the offering of holiday programmes by organisations. The partnership of other organisations such as SBC and other media assisted in every way. We also worked very well with the Ministry of Health with the management of Covid and the vaccination programme.

Seychelles NATION: 44 years in the Seychelles’ education system. What is your take on that?

Dr Odile de Comarmond: When you look at it, compared to other countries, I would say that we have been very successful. No system is perfect and in education, changes do not happen overnight. We need to work on it. Sometimes we see too many changes too fast and this is not healthy. Since 2013, we have seen four changes in the structure and one of the drastic changes was in the curriculum.

Seychelles NATION: Are you happy?

Dr Odile de Comarmond: I am very happy for what I have achieved in the 44 years. For me, I have achieved quite a lot and I worked with my heart, diligently and my focus was on the children of Seychelles.

Seychelles NATION: What is your wish for the children and teachers of Seychelles?

Dr Odile de Comarmond: During my tenure, I put a lot of emphasis on renovation of schools and training of teachers. When I took over as PS, the last cohort of teachers that went through training was in 2005. We pushed for a group of teachers to embark on training as leaders and for teachers as well, we managed to finalise a programme for B.ED with the University of Seychelles so that a cohort can start in 2022. We managed to work with our SITE (Seychelles Institute for Teacher Education), to put a majority of untrained teachers on training. This is my wish; I want all our teachers to be qualified.

Another wish is to see more parents involved in their children’s learning. We have seen quite a number of parents who are supporting their children but more will be better and we will make a big difference in the society. My major wish is to see an improvement across the system. We have been struggling to achieve this, but we are on the right track.

Seychelles NATION: Your family has been closely associated with politics, did that affect your work?

Dr Odile de Comarmond: As a professional, I tried not to put politics in my work and I have achieved it. I attended to everybody needing assistance. This was my principle and I maintained that till the last day.

Seychelles NATION: What next for you Dr de Commarmond?

Dr Odile de Comarmond: Right now, I think I deserve a good break. I have been working day and night with the ongoing pandemic, making calls and doing Skype meetings late nights. It has been a very stressful five years and more stressful during the last two years. I’ve got some offers already – nationally and internationally – and I will decide what to do in due course. Right now, I want to finish with my book on slavery.

Mother of two daughters and grandmother of three grand-children, she now has time to spend some quality time with her loved ones.

During the last five years, Seychelles NATION has had a fruitful collaboration with Dr Odile de Comarmond and we thank her for all her hard work and wish her well in all her future endeavours.

The selection of photos show some highlights of Dr de Comarmond’s career in education.

Vidya Gappy