The Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) has donated a cheque for R50,000 to Anse Etoile primary school in support of the solar schools programme.
The donation will be used to provide the school with a 5KW solar photovoltaic (PV) installation, which will enable the school to produce electricity from solar energy and thus allowing it to save on its monthly utility bill.
The handover of the cheque took place yesterday afternoon at the MCB Seychelles head office at Caravelle House in the presence of the bank’s managing director (MD) Bernard Jackson, the chairperson of the school council Ian Charlette, energy consultant Elke Talma, representatives from MCB and from Anse Etoile primary school.
Handing over the cheque to Mr Charlette, the bank’s MD stated that MCB is gifting the cheque as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“MCB Seychelles has been actively active serving the community through generous donation, along with CSR projects. The bank’s generous gesture will make the Anse Etoile school the first state school on Mahé Island to benefit from the solar schools programme. Helping the school will allow it to save energy and on utility bills,” he said.
Mr Charlette thanked MCB Seychelles for the wonderful donation, which will benefit the school.
“The Anse Etoile primary school has had a very successful academic year in 2016. We need to keep going strong and strive for success. We thank MCB Seychelles for this generous donation, for making our dream come true,” he said.
The Seychelles Eco-Schools programme was established 20 years ago. All state schools in Seychelles are registered for the programme. The programme is coordinated by the Environmental Education Unit within the Ministry of Education.
The solar school programme supports the Seychelles Sustainable Development Strategy (SSDS) 2010-2020 in promoting energy efficiency across all sectors, including the use of alternative source of power and renewable energy. The objective is to help schools reduce their electricity bill, by promoting the use of renewable power together with energy efficient measures in all schools.
For such project to become a reality, the school still needs R100,000 to be able to start their solar PV project. The initiative began with the La Digue school in 2015, and extended to the state schools of Praslin Island in 2016.
Source : Seychelles NATION