Ralph Volcere’s 250th Anniversary message anchors the value of Education for the next 250 years!
EDUCATION KEY PART OF VOLCERE’S CAMPAIGN
In a statement last week to TODAY newspaper to mark the 250th anniversary of Seychelles last week the ‘Seychelles Independent’ Editor Ralph Volcere was asked, among other political leaders, what the milestone meant to him.
Mr. Volcere, an Independent Presidential candidate in the October elections, and MNA candidate for Roche Caiman district, said: “Starting Now, we need to look at the next 250 years to turn Seychelles into one of the most prosperous and advanced countries in the world. We will have to educate our people, for this is the only way out for Seychelles in 2020 and beyond.“
EDUCATION must be placed at the top of our agenda –it is crucial for the long term existence (and performance) of Seychelles”.
Mr. Volcere had earlier mentioned EDUCATION as the key pillar of his Presidential campaign so we asked him to expand on his call for more and better education.He opened up by saying: “Education is the only tool that will take us from where we are now to become a better people in a better society that is then able to drive forward a better, happier, and more prosperous country. We need to know more in order to get the best of who we are, where we are and where we want to go.“It is also by being better educated that we can make the right choices for our health, our children, our work, and all these factors help shape a better nation”.
PARENTAL EDUCATION
The world we live in has changed from the world we grew up in not so long ago. Television and Internet and now smart phones are serving up too many choices for our children and young people.
It is imperative that parents keep learning to at least understand this vast number of choices in order to better advice and coach their children.
CHILD CARE & NURSERY EDUCATION
These are the key formative years of a child. If the child cannot be schooled at home because parents are working to bring home the bread, the Nursery becomes a key part of the child’s upbringing. It is thus very important that our child carers and Nursery teachers get the best training in child psychology and education.
PRIMARY & SECONDARY EDUCATION
Too many of our schoolchildren are not leaving these two stages of our education system with the right baggage for further education or their future careers. We have to step up, and where necessary overhaul our system.
SEXUAL EDUCATION
We are born by it, we live by it, we populate the earth with, yet we consider it a Taboo, we often consider it a shame, and do not understand the sum of its parts. Sexual Education is important in the development of every young person and adult. We cannot be shy about it. It will help tremendously in reducing teenage pregnancy, which is a big problem in Seychelles.
ACCESS TO DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
Covid19 and the recent weeks where children couldn’t go to school have shown us how virtual education can play a leading role in our children’s education. The Classroom model as we know it is bound to change in the future, and online resources already far outweigh what we have in terms of physical tools. Just look at the unprecedented growth in Online courses.We need to gear up for this revolution in Education, and we need to equip schools and our school children with more and better digital tools and possibilities.As adults we also need to embrace the Digital world because more and more Government and Company services will be delivered Online.
BETTER HEALTH
There is a growing realization that humans have to take better care and responsibility for their own health, as well as develop a strong immunity that will protect them in tough times like Covid19.
We must not continue to grow up with the mentality that when we get sick we just go to the doctor and take a batch of pills. We have to educate ourselves that Prevention is better than Cure, and we have to re-learn the benefits of the role of plants around us as medicine, not least Cannabis.I say re-learn because we used to have excellent Herbalists in our community, but somehow our belief in sorcery and superstitions gave this practice a bad name. The world is now realising their true value and knowledge, and we have enough natural medicine on our doorstep and the considerable knowledge of ourgrandparents, to learn this now before the older generation passes away.
FOOD EDUCATION
Research has proven that processed food is harmful to our bodies and cause serious health problems in the long run. Our bad food habits including too much Sugar and Soft drinks are pushing up the number of people who are obese, thus more prone to heart attack and cancer.
Our best food lies on our doorstep, with our fishermen and with our farmers. We have to educate ourselves more and better in order to make better Food choices.
POLICE EDUCATION
Police work is not just about catching careless drivers, thieves and criminals. It’s also largely about encouraging social and community harmony and combatting social ills.We can only have a decent worthy Police force when Education is valued from top down, and from down top.This way we will also attract good calibre young people into the police force who see it as a professional career, rather than a job of last resort if they’ve failed elsewhere.
MENTAL & SPIRITUAL WELLBEING
Being educated and being aware leads to good Mental health and certain degree of spirituality on which human wellbeing and a healthy society is based.We need to integrate mental and spiritual wellbeing into our being and daily lives if we are to become a better, more robust, and happier society, which in the end will lead to better Government and better Politics.
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
We all know we live in the most beautiful islands in the world, but not all of us behave responsibly in these beautiful islands. Not all of us behave in a manner that keep the islands clean and beautiful. Littering is still a menace and a big problem. Only Education and where necessary Fines can discourage this habit, and encourage better habits.
LIVING OUR CULTURE
It takes an educated people to realise and appreciate that our Culture is one of our most important assets, what defines us as a people.Culture is not just what we celebrate every October in Festival Kreol. It’s not just kari koko pwason sale ek bred mouroum, not just our Moutya. Culture is how we live with each other, how we share and keep alive our customs, what we pass on to our children.
Culture is our soul, and we need good and meaningful Education to keep it alive.This is why alongside my reply that Education is key, I said “….otherwise our Creole way of life will become extinct in the next 250 years”.
