SNYA approves two motions |20 October 2020
The SNYA’s recent sitting (Photo: Louis Toussaint)
The 17th cohort of the Seychelles National Youth Assembly (SNYA) held its third sitting recently at the STC conference room where two motions were brought forward and accepted.
The first motion, tabled by Magali Juamaille, proposed a cultural exchange through the department of culture between senior citizens and youths. This will be done on a national or regional scale.
“This will help preserve our culture as year after year we lose a piece of our heritage. Many young people nowadays do not know our traditional dances or how to cook Creole food,” she said.
Ms Jumaille also proposed a special day on which that exchange can happen every year.
She added that the department of culture is in favour of the initiative however it cannot do it on its own.
“We need to start now and not only depend on the department of culture, we need to start this initiative on our own and SNYA is willing to partner with homes for the elderly to get the ball rolling,” she said.
She also called upon the youths of Seychelles to appreciate their culture and promote it.
Darius Petrousse brought the second motion forward which proposed that the Ministry of Education identifies teachers in primary schools who have the potential to go for higher education so that they may get more qualifications.
“More emphasis are being paced on secondary teachers when it comes to obtaining higher degrees. Primary is the foundation of a student’s educational career so we must have more qualified teachers in that area,” said Mr Petrousse.
He also added that from communications he has had with the Ministry of Education he believes that they will take the motion into consideration as the ministry already has a project similar to the proposed one but this will just accelerate it.
Mr Petrousse, who also serves as the speaker of the assembly, said that in the past couple of weeks SNYA has been attacked online by people who perceive the programme as political.
The speaker condemned these attacks and clarified that SNYA is just an educational programme and is not affiliated to any political movements.
“When we are in the assembly we work for the youth of Seychelles and only the youths regardless of political backgrounds,” he said.
Regarding the 17th cohort, SNYA coordinator Janetta Ali said that so far the new cohort is motivated to work for the youths and institutions they represent.
“There are room for improvement but so far they are all doing a good job,” she said.