Fathers face changing roles with aid of values workshop

The opening session of the course on Wednesday

Selected fathers from around Seychelles looked to embrace a gradual shift in parental roles on Wednesday June 16,  through a workshop to promote an atmosphere of positive values in their households.

Some 27 fathers – one representing each school on Mahe – met at the National Council for Children (NCC) on Wednesday, for a one-day course on the NGO’s Living Values programme, which is backed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and is currently implemented in 74 countries.

NCC director Ruby Pardiwalla said that the role for fathers in Seychelles is gradually changing from that of the family’s sole breadwinner to one with a more active role in the education and development of their children.

In these different roles, she said, fathers should be able to come to terms with their own values, and in turn realise what values they would like to instil in their children.

Ms Pardiwalla said the workshop would hopefully familiarise fathers with positive living values that would rub off on their children.

But such a concept is only now beginning to diverge from the country’s traditional ways.

Seychelles’ cultural heritage has in the past limited fathers from taking on such roles normally associated with the mother in a family, said Selby Dora, Education Minister Danny Faure’s advisor, who spoke to launch the workshop.

Mr Dora said that in today’s world fathers should play more assertive roles in assisting with the education of their children both personally and through the support of groups and organisations promoting positive values that could benefit their children.

Reginald Elizabeth, chairman of the local fathers association, said at the workshop that he hoped the participants would be able help dispel the myth that Seychellois fathers can’t play a part in the development of their children.

“This is just an assumption,” he said, adding that women, too, should be willing to give fathers the opportunity to have a positive and influential role in their child’s development, education and upbringing.

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