A three-day training workshop is being held for teachers and other partner organisations to help students build their social skills and make better life choices.
The aim is to help youngsters refrain from engaging in antisocial behaviour such as theft, suicide, truancy, irresponsibility and drug experimentation, among others.
The skills gained will equip adolescents with strong social values with which to survive in the society.
It will also enhance their decision-making abilities, effective communication skills, courage to resist negative pressure, coping with conflicts and critical thinking.
This will allow them to become more self-confident and communicate more effectively both at home and at school.
Organised by Lions Quests of Lions Club International, the workshop was officially launched on Wednesday by Odile Octave, director general for schools in the Ministry of Education.
Present at the launch ceremony held at the Seychelles Institute for Teacher Education (Site), Mont Fleuri, were Lion Siva Pillay, the Chief Lions Quest Teachers Workshop Convenor in Seychelles, and other officials of the Lions Club in Seychelles and of the Ministry of Education.
During the ceremony, seven sets of textbooks were to be given to each delegate of the workshop.
The workshop is the first of its kind organised in Seychelles by Lions Quest under the umbrella of the Lions Club International District 411A (Kenya, Seychelles, Ethiopia). It is being facilitated by Lion Frederick Scotch, Club Secretary of Lions Club of Nairobi Host District 411-A.
In her opening remarks, Mrs Octave said such help from partners is additional opportunities to enhance the learning environment by building the capacity of staff to competently assist and support students in building their social skills for better life choices.
“The goal of the programme complements the educational goals of our ministry to address the holistic development of the students. Therefore it is expected that important knowledge and skills acquired through this training will cascade to impact constructively on the learning environment of our school,” she said.
Valentina Seth, the President of Lions Club, said the workshop marks another milestone in the club’s history of rendering service to the community.
The club renders services in the areas of education, health, environmental care and engaging in humanitarian activities. She went through the various projects in Seychelles the club has undertaken.
Mr Scotch said this is his thirtieth workshop and similar ones have been held in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria.
He said the programme is a preventive one as prevention is better than cure. There have been positive behavioural changes among students who followed it.
“He who lacks confidence is twice beaten in this junk we call land. And it is this confidence we have to build in our adolescents. Because they don’t know how to say no to drugs,” he said.
Some, he said, are into drugs not because they desire so but because they have never been taught the skills to stay out of it.
When they say NO, he remarked, they have to explain why they do not want that.
Source : Seychelles NATION