Culture department donates books to all public, private schools |05 June 2020

A souvenir photograph after the handover of the books (Photo: Jude Morel)

Public and private schools will each receive cultural materials consisting of books and DVDs produced and donated by the department of culture to mark Children’s Day celebrated on June 1.

The presentation ceremony took place yesterday at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, Mont Fleuri and it was the director general for culture Julienne Barra who handed over part of the materials to Dr Odile De Commarmond, principal secretary for early childhood, primary and second education.

Each school will receive a copy of the materials which consists of the following: Standardizasyon Ladans Tradisyonnel (DVD & booklet); Les Ecrivains Seychellois Esquisse Biographie – Abdourahamane Diallo, The Tropical plants of Seychelles – Alexandra Azaïs; Pti Zan, Loulou ek Lera and Pti Zan, Loulou ek Kourpa – both produced by heritage section within the department of culture.

The value of the materials donated is R34,860.

“Through these materials, the younger generation will learn more about our music, fauna, flora and literature of our Seychellois culture and tradition. This will enhance their knowledge of the intrinsic values of our culture and hopefully drive them to embrace their cultural identity, especially now that we are facing difficult times. More than ever, we all must look towards the importance of our culture and tradition through the social and economic benefits. This gesture is one that the department of culture wishes to make every Children’s Day,” said Ms Barra.

“This is a donation which has a lot of meaning for us as it is related to our culture. This year we could not celebrate Children’s Day properly and this type of activity is one of the small things we are doing to add value to this day. This year also we will not be having big celebrations for the Creole Festival, but with these resources, the children will be able to enhance their knowledge and culture. In schools already the children are learning about our culture and history, so these books are additional materials for them,” noted Dr De Commarmond.

Vidya Gappy