(Seychelles News Agency) - A Seychellois student has been recognised and rewarded for her academic excellence and leadership qualities after completing her studies at the University of Botswana.

Jocelyn Dogley received the University’s Valedictorian award as the best overall student, scoring a 4.9-grade point average out of 5.0.

Graduating with a Bachelor of Education Secondary degree, Dogley also walked away with the vice-chancellor’s prize and faculty of education’s dean prize.

Dogley, who finds it hard to express how she feels to have won the awards, said however that “having won the awards goes to show that the effort placed in my studies bore fruit.”

The 28-year-old, who teaches at Anse Boileau Secondary, was one of the eight Seychellois students to score first class honours in the Bachelor of Education degree, a two-year course. Three more students scored a second-class honour.

President Danny Faure and the Minister for Education, Jeanne Simeon, met with the 11 new graduate teachers at State House, Victoria, on Tuesday.

“Today, I wish to congratulate all of you for your remarkable results. You have all made our country proud and today I wish to share this special occasion with you. I hope that you will all continue to be role models to other teachers, and continue to add value to our education system,” said Faure.

The graduates shared with Faure their experiences at the University and how their studies are helping them in their work.

President Faure and the Minister for Education, Jeanne Simeon, met with the 11 new graduate teachers at State House on Tuesday. (Patrick Joubert) Photo License: CC-BY

“Studies were challenging but I have been able to overcome them with the right mindset. I have learned a lot, in term of the language itself, education and different theories,” said Dogley.

Simeon told the press that having such a large group of students graduate with such good results is a big achievement for the ministry.

“As a ministry, we will continue to give these teachers the necessary support and incentives to retain them in education as we lose a lot of teachers and depend a lot on expatriate teachers,” she said, describing the graduates as models in the educational sector.

Seychelles, an island nation of 95,000 inhabitants, has many foreign teachers working in state schools as well as in the private schools, among which many come from Sri Lanka, India and Kenya.

Simeon said that in the next three years the teachers who recently graduated will have the chance to pursue their Master’s degree in the same university.

In 2016, Seychelles and Botswana signed an agreement for an exchange programme in teacher training. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, teachers from Botswana replace each Seychellois going to study in Botswana.

Simeon commented that at the moment the agreement is not being honoured. She explained that after a high-level visit from diplomats from Botswana last year, requests were made to revert to the original agreement.

From 2012 to 2018, 47 Seychellois teachers have graduated from the University of Botswana, with a total of 9 students still on training there.