“Dear teachers, students, education workers & our esteemed stakeholders,

“We have reached the end of the last academic session for 2021. To many institutions, this is the end of an academic year. It has been a real challenging year. We’ve experienced community transmission of Covid-19. To a large extent, our institutions have felt the impact. Sadly, we have lost colleagues and friends. We pray for the eternal rest of their souls, and we continue to pray for their loved ones.

“Our professionals have been challenged in several ways. Our students have suffered the consequences but we have dealt with the situation. We’ve sailed through 2021 and here we are almost ashore. We are all more experienced than we were last year in dealing with a pandemic. We have demonstrated our resilience. Despite all the challenges we have accomplished a lot. May I take this opportunity to thank all school governance and management teams, all school workers and students for their fantastic role in dealing with the pandemic and abiding by regulations of the public health. I also thank all parents for bearing with the schools. At one point, the Ministry of Education sought the understanding of all stakeholders. Today, I can confirm that we got it. We are most grateful. Now we have to focus on recovering and reviving education. We will draw on lessons learned from this unprecedented experience and build new knowledge and new approaches for the future. The sad thing though is that Covid-19 persists and the danger is far from over. Keep our guard high. Stay safe!

“Today also marks the end of the series of support visits I have been doing in the various educational institutions in the country. Through those visits, I was able to understand and appreciate schools from the workers’ perspective. I will continue to move around next year, hopefully conduct more interactive sessions so that we learn more together and develop better models of engagement. We must win. Our kids must gain from the system we are creating. We must be successful. May I take this opportunity to wish everyone, teachers, students, all education workers and their close families, a wonderful festive season.

Source: Seychelles Nation