Seychelles and China will continue to work together in the education sector with particular interest in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as per an agreement signed last year.
A Chinese delegation of 11 members, including senior officials from the education sector, directors from Dongying and Xianyang vocational institute, along with political officials, came to Seychelles for a two-day visit.
The delegation met on Friday with the Minister for Education, Justin Valentin, and other senior officials of the ministry where discussions were focused on the National Technical School, which is planned to open at the current Perseverance Secondary School.
“The students are looking forward to a good vocational educational institution to build their skills and a career. With you as partners we are hopeful that the students’ dream will become a reality,” said Valentin.
The collaboration between the Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, and China follows a signing of a memorandum of understanding with the China-Africa TVET Alliance in 2022.
“The China-Africa TVET Alliance is working with Seychelles to look for ways to develop our teachers as well as the curriculum, and also to help us in developing the leadership of the school,” said the director general for TVET, Jean Alcindor.
The delegation also visited the Perseverance Secondary School to get an insight into the work being done to transform the school into a technical centre by 2024.
The National Technical School will open in January 2024 at the Perseverance Secondary School, which opened in 2018 on a man-made island adjacent to the main island of Mahe.
It is expected to accommodate students from all over Seychelles for secondary four and secondary five levels. As a result, other students from secondary one up to secondary three, currently studying at the Perseverance Secondary School, will next year be accommodated at neighbouring secondary schools.
The Chinese delegation also met with representatives from the Seychelles Tourism Academy and the Seychelles Institute of Technology on Saturday. Discussions were on various aspects of the technical school and what needs to be done before the school opens in 2024.
“We have seen that the school is very nice now, but there is still room to improve, especially the building the required workshops that will help the students,” said Zhang Yujia, the regional coordinator for Southern and Eastern Africa from the Chinese delegation.