National Assembly staff up their command of the Creole language   |10 February 2022

The launch of the training programme yesterday (Photo: Thomas Meriton)

The National Assembly yesterday organised a half-day in-house training in collaboration with the Creole Institute, now called Lakademi Kreol Sesel.

The training, held on the precinct of the National Assembly, targeted the Parliamentary Reporting Unit with the intention of improving the Creole transcription of verbatim, the use of Creole words and identifying transcription models used by the National Assembly.

As the legislative branch of government, verbatim are considered fundamental records of the legislature. These documents must be prepared quickly, efficiently, and accurately, and they must be properly archived to ensure their long-term availability. Thus it is important to have such training for secretariat staff and caucus secretaries. 

The Clerk to the National Assembly, Tania Isaac, noted that this collaboration is the first activity of this sort the National Assembly organises with the Creole Institute and that this partnership will continue.

“It is crucial for us, staff of the National Assembly, to be up to date with one of our national languages – Creole. Creole is our mother tongue and this is the language used in the National Assembly. Our challenge now is to type in Creole on our computers, but now staff are getting used to it. The language evolves and I know the Creole Institute always publishes new guidelines to help others on how to use the language. Today is the day we will learn more on these. In the future, the National Assembly might sign a memorandum of understanding with the Creole Institute to further the training,” Mrs Isaac said.

The chief executive of the Creole Institute, Marie Flora Ben-David, noted that “now the Creole Institute is called Lakademi Kreol Sesel under the new Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts. We are very proud to be able to collaborate with the National Assembly for such a seminar which also coincides with the International Mother Language Day which will be celebrated later this month (February 21). It is important to note that our language is evolving and our academy’s aim is to help organisations to be aware of the changes”.

The deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, Alexandria Faure, noted that “this partnership with the Creole Institute will help the staff greatly as a lot of motions and questions are in Creole. We have to make sure we are up-to-date with the language and this is one place where we use Creole mainly in our interactions. Even our public relations strategy for this year will be geared towards the Creole language. We have to make sure we are preserving it and using it properly”.

Vidya Gappy