(Seychelles News Agency) - Sixteen students from schools in Seychelles will participate in a hands-on environmental science experience on D’Arros Island after winning a poster and story competition.

According to the Save Our Seas Foundation, the D’Arros Experience is an initiative to educate young Seychellois on the importance of the ecosystems that form part of their national heritage. It also provides practical, hands-on field experience in an important world ecological hotspot.

The Foundation said on Tuesday that it received 84 submissions for what is called the ‘D’Arros Experience’ from students aged 11-14 for the competition which took place last year.

The camp coordinator, Sheena Talma, said that the submissions showed that there was a great deal of interest from young Seychellois on the topic of the environment.

“Both the number and the quality of submissions received were beyond our expectations. The judges did not have an easy job to select the winners, as there were so many amazing illustrations and essays,” she added.

With the winners now selected, the next phase is to proceed with the logistics of the camp subject to approval from health and education authorities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The camp will be done during the school holidays. 

“Safety is our top priority, so we are working with the authorities and are hopeful we will be able to find a suitable and safe window to conduct the camps later this year,” Talma said.

Save our Seas Foundation founder, Abdulmohsen Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh, said: “We are delighted to see such wonderful participation from young Seychellois, and it is our privilege to provide these future ocean stewards with an opportunity to visit one of the world’s most precious marine sanctuaries.”

The winners will have an opportunity to experience D’Arros, a privately owned island since 1975 located 255 kilometres south of Mahe, the main island.

This is not the first time that Seychellois students have been given the chance to visit D'Arros. The competition was last organised in 2014 and is seen as an important component of the foundation's worldwide mission to promote environmental education and outreach.

The Save Our Seas Foundation is a philanthropic organization committed to protecting the world’s oceans founded in Geneva on September 23 in 2003.