Seychelles hosts international schools debate competition

For the first time, Seychelles hosted an international schools debate competition and Children’s Ocean Conference organised by the Seychelles Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, with the support of various local partners, including The Ocean Project Seychelles, and the Trust for Sustainable Living (TSL), a UK based non-governmental organisation. 

Every year, TSL chooses a UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and invites primary and secondary schoolchildren around the world to submit their perspectives on the role young people can play in achieving that SDG. In 2018, schoolchildren submitted essays titled ‘My plan to protect and manage our oceans, seas and marine resources’. The authors of the winning essays were then invited to a debate competition and TSL could not have chosen a more fitting location than Seychelles to host this event. 

The events were held at the Savoy Resort & Spa, from the 2nd to the 8th July 2018, and Karine Rassool, our co-founder, had the honour of sitting on a panel of 4 judges to choose the winners of the primary school debates competition. 

We also had two of our members, Alvania and Nathalia Lawen, in attendance and together with Karine, they assisted with the organisation of the group work during the Children’s Ocean Conference. They individually led three different group sessions entitled “How the ocean supports the economy”, “How do land based activities affect the ocean” and “The ocean provides goods which are beneficial to our diet, health and other daily activities”. 

Speaking of her experience, Karine says “It was so inspirational to hear school children of all ages, some even from landlocked countries, showing their understanding of how important the ocean and marine resources are to every single one of us and what needs to be done to ensure that our oceans are used sustainably and protected for future generations”.