SMA and Cinec to enhance existing framework of collaboration |28 January 2023
The press conference: (l to r) Captain Sedrick, PS Lesperance, Mr Asba and Ms Alexis (Phoot: Joena Meme)
The cabinet this week approved for the Ministry of Education of Seychelles to sign a revised memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Colombo International Nautical Engineering College (Cinec) of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
The agreement will allow Cinec and the Seychelles Maritime Academy (SMA) to continue to maintain and enhance the existing framework for academic cooperation to develop the skills of seafarers to meet the requirements of IMO/STCW ’78 Convention as well as to develop and maintain their professional standards as required by ship owners. The agreement will have a one year duration.
To shed more light on this, the principal secretary for the Education Sector Development Department, John Lesperance; the head of Shipping and Security at the Seychelles Petroleum Company (Seypec), Alain Asba; the director general for Network and Engagement at the MoE, Jutta Alexis and the director of the SMA, Captain Prassana Sedrick, met with the press yesterday at the MoE headquarters at Mont Fleuri.
“This agreement is not new as Seychelles has been working with Cinec since 2013 and it was renewed two times. This time, we are viewing with another angle mainly for our students who are trained at SMA to make sure they have the proper license to work on tankers around the world. This agreement will allow us to maintain the white list for our Seychellois,” explained PS Lesperance.
Already a group of 10 students are currently at Cinec and without this agreement they will not be able to get this license.
“After signing this MoA, we will review it after a year so that in 2024, we will have a better collaboration with Seypec, SMA and MoE in order to benefit more from it,” explained Mr Lesperance.
Mr Asba shared that since 2013, 80 seafarers have been trained with Cinec and most of them are still working for the country.
“Seypec is putting much emphasis on how the seafarers are being treated as we want to localise all positions. Some of them benefitted from scholarship from ANHRD but the great majority has been sponsored by Seypec.”
Speaking about the salary package of seafarers, Mr Asba explained that the whole package include their leave pay, their additional overtime and basic pay.
“The salary they get when they are onboard already take care of when they are not. Those who want to keep working when they are not onboard, have to ask for permission with Seypec as we do pay for a marine benefit for all seafarers, their spouse and their child until the age of 18 years. If ever they get into an accident or have to go through medical treatment, all these are taken care of by Seypec. And Seypec is the only shipping company in the world who caters for all these benefits.”
For now Seypec is getting enough people to be seafarers but now the organisation is targeting students with A-Levels and SIT so that they have the right candidates.
Captain Sedrick recently took the role of the director at the SMA. “I have been involved with Seychelles since 2013 in preparing the students to get the Sri Lankan certificates. The vision of SMA is to be an international accredited partner in maritime sector and if you want your youth to work on the sea, they have to complete the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) courses. Without discipline, the youth will not be able to work on the sea. SMA will introduce together with Cinec international grades for international cruise lines. SMA’s vision is to become the leading maritime academy in the region.”
After the MoA has been approved, the MoE will contact Cinec for the official signing in Seychelles.
Vidya Gappy