All distance and open learning will now be coordinated by the Adult Learning and Distance Education Centre (Aldec) under a new national policy launched on Friday November 14.

Pertinent programmes previously offered through different ministries will therefore now be run by the Ministry of Education and Youth (MEY) under Aldec.

The coordinator for distance education, Mrs Nichole Bistoque, said this in an interview with Seychelles Nation after Minister Danny Faure of MEY launched the National Distance and Open Learning Policy at the National Institute of Education.

She said that among the programmes that will now come under Aldec will be those offered by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Edith Cowan University and the University of South Africa (Unisa).

The coordinator said with the new policy, many more programmes, especially from Unisa are expected to be offered. Unisa was represented at the ceremony by Professor Louis Molamu who spoke about the history and current status of the university.

Among the guests present during the occasion were Minister Noellie Alexander of Administration and Manpower Development, Minister Dolor Ernesta of Social Affairs and Employment, top civil servants and senior education officials.

In his speech to launch the policy, Minister Faure said the level of access to education in Seychelles, which the government has striven to enhance, and free at primary and secondary levels, is comparable to that of industrialised nations.

He said small and remote societies lack the critical mass to justify universities of their own, and find the cost of sustaining such a range of training programmes as society demands prohibitive. Hence, Seychelles Government has pioneered several strategic and innovative programmes aimed at reducing the cost burden on the country.

During the occasion, the director general for technical and further education, Mrs Anne Lafortune, made a presentation on the new policy while Aldec director, Mrs Fiona Ernesta-Uranie, made one on a new programme called the Web Portal Project, that will enable students to learn through the internet.

Six immediate past participants of different training programmes, including Mrs Ernesta-Uranie and Mrs Bistoque, received their certificates from Minister Faure during the ceremony.

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