Supported by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), a centre for open, distance and e-Learning (ODeL) was inaugurated by COL President and CEO Professor Asha Kanwar and Seychelles’ Minister of Education, Dr Justin Valentin on 24 May 2022.

Located on the premises of the Ministry of Education, the Centre will train teachers in creating open educational resources (OER) and integrating ICT in education. It will have facilities for digital audio and video creation, an open access repository and a learning management system which enables educators to create and curate learning materials for primary and secondary school subjects.

Some of the first activities at this centre will include the development of 37 open textbooks on secondary (O-level) and junior college (A-level) courses to be offered by the Seychelles Institute of Distance and Open Learning. These materials will prepare teachers to facilitate online learning which in turn will result in all secondary school students and teachers in Seychelles to have free access to open textbooks.

Dr Justin Valentin thanked COL for the support provided, which he expressed will go a long way in improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools.

Professor Asha Kanwar mentioned the recent support provided by COL in open, distance and e-learning: ‘COL has supported Seychelles in revising the ICT and training policy, prepared a report on new model of schooling, and a capacity building workshop on OER was held last week. More teacher professional development programmes will be planned in the future to support the strategic priorities of the Ministry of Education.’