Seychellois teachers return transformed from Chinese training |25 August 2023

Education Minister, Dr Justin Valentin, principal secretaries Merna Eulentin and John Lesperance and other officials joined the teachers to discuss their training in China (Photo: Sunny Esparon)

Eight technical and vocational education training teachers who left Seychelles earlier this year to follow a three-month training in four Chinese colleges have returned to the country, having learnt many things that would benefit them and their students.

They shared their various escapades and experience during an informal meeting yesterday afternoon at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education in the presence of Education Minister Dr Justin Valentin, principal secretary for educational services Merna Eulentin, principal secretary for education sector development John Lesperance and other officials.

In his opening address, Mr Lesperance explained that the session was to meet with the teachers who spent three months in China through the cooperation of the China-Africa Vocational Education alliance.

“We are indeed grateful for the opportunity that the alliance has provided to the Ministry of Education and we have now seen that a group of teachers has been trained and another group will leave Seychelles in September,” stated Mr Lesperance.

He explained that the teachers have been through various institutions and their progress was tracked via a WhatsApp group. “We are convinced that they really had a wonderful opportunity and gained insightful experience and knowledge as well as cultural knowledge,” he concluded.

The group has met twice with Mr Lesperance to explore how they could help with the curriculum development and a new technical school.

“We have agreed that they will be coming for two days at the ministry to help us with the work that we want to do especially in development and other aspects such as identifying equipment and potential areas that we can evolve with the technical school,” said Mr Lesperance.

For his part, Minister Valentin said the ministry had been following the teachers throughout their journey in China and praised them for the pictures sent through the WhatsApp group.

“It gives us a really good idea that one, you really benefited from this experience and at the same time, you enjoyed the experience,” said Dr Valentin.

Furthermore, the minister explained that in terms of educational development, the real work for the teachers begins right now as they will be relied on to set the scene and train the other teachers who did not have the chance to go to China.

“There will be another group within the next few weeks going to China but of course we cannot send everybody but we will rely on your experience, things that you have learnt for you to share,” added Minister Valentin.

For his part, director general for TVET, Jean Alcindor, said the teachers have been trained in various fields such as technology, finance, and trade, among others and should make use of it if they are to impart the necessary competency to the students beginning in January 2024.

“We count a lot on your support, now that you are equipped with the technical skills, technological know-how and as the PS has said, you will find yourself involved heavily in curriculum development for the new centre as well as involved in fine-tuning the requirements, especially as to the different kinds of machines and equipment and training resources,” he stated.

The other group that is to leave in September will be trained in culture, transport technology, travel and tourism.

Regional coordinator for Southern and Eastern Africa from the Chinese delegation, Zhang Yujia shared her sincere appreciation for all the teachers who joined the programme.

“We have a traditional saying in China that means ‘in the learning we teach, in the teaching we learn’. So for us, you are not only there to learn things but you are also there to teach things to us because we believe that the process of teaching is the process of knowledge sharing, so from the feedback of our institutions, our teachers and students have also learnt a lot of things from you and together we spent unforgettable moments and we sincerely hope the past three months have been the same,” said Ms Yujia.

The teachers who shared their experience, talked about the need to instil discipline similar to what is promoted by the Chinese culture as well as the need to start going down a more technological path.

The teachers then had a chance to engage in a ‘high tea event’ hosted by Wang Dongxia, director of the Confucius Institute of the University of Seychelles.

The event in collaboration with the Ministry of Education was to welcome the teachers back.

Sunny Esparon