Christopher Gill's Column

Michels’ University of Seychelles

Christopher Gill Mr. President recently appointed Dr. Rolf Payet to head a desk in State House, to create the University of Seychelles. Mr. President said that the University would be fully accredited, and will offer an array of degree courses to Seychellois and other nationals interested. He said that the University will be at par with any other university in the world. Dr. Payet,of course, is not a Doctor of Education, but rather, he did his doctorate dissertation on “The Effects of Coastal Erosion on Small Island States” something he knows a lot about, especially after working as Principal Secretary for Environment for a number of years under the former Minister, Ronnie Jumeau. Dr. Payet should be commended for his work on coastal erosion. Starting a world standard university with full accreditation under a wholly financially indebted communist regime that cannot maintain adequate and regular supplies of toilet paper in public schools will be another matter entirely.

Communist Always Experiment With Education

Since Karl Marx wrote Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital over two bottles of Irish whiskey and sent half witted- half brains into a tail spin for two centuries, Communist converts have been experimenting with Education at every opportunity they get for the same period. They usually hide their evil intentions in grand discourses about the need to educate our People, and maximize our Human Resources, our most precious assets blah, blah, blah! The Truth is that when they feel like they are loosing control over society, they reassess the educational system and see how best to manipulate the orientation of students, the young, vulnerable and most impressionistic group in society. They use Education to manipulate the minds of the young, hoping to get the Youth to believe in their failures, instead of of turning their failures into successes through good ideas and hard work and sacrifice.

Communist do not like making sacrifice. They want you to make it for them.

In Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China, Mao decided to purge the intellects and educated young citizens who did not believe in his Peasant Revolution. Mao pulled them out of Shanghai and Peking at the time and sent them off to far away lands to plant vegetables and raise pigs and cattle on communal farms. He set back a society for 30 years.

In Combodia, Pol Pots’ experiment with education meant that he would kill all the Teachers and Professors in schools and toss them in rice patties to be used as human fertilizer. Hence, the name “The Killing Fields”, became associated with Pol Pots effort to play with the role Education and it’s agents have in the lives of the Combodian population. He destroyed a society.

In Seychelles, the ideological brother of Mao and Pol Pot, France Albert Rene has routinely told educated people who did not agree with his Kreol- Communisim, to leave if they do not like it. Well, Mr. Rene, we do not like it, but we will not leave. We will encourage more Seychellois to return to Seychelles, their motherland. As they return, for every Ramadosss you prop up to us Seychellois, to front businesses, we will show you a dozen bona fide Seychellois whose ambilical cords are all earthed well and good in Seychellois soil, to ensure our crops are productive inspite of you.

SPPF Experimented With NYS

The Promoters of University of Seychelles have their roots in experimenting with Education in the formation of the National Youth Service (NYS) soon after the Coup of 1977. Rene at the time, felt he had to manipulate the minds of the young to stay in power. He also thought the youth would make good spies in the homes and could learn to use a weapon (AK-47) with relative ease to prop up his regime.The social experiment of NYS involved the stealing of schools and land from the Church, which up to the formation of NYS was doing quite a noble task at educating our People. Some of the most intelligent Seychellois we know today, went through the good hands of the Religious, who took on the vocation of Educator in our Country. They are too numerous to mention, but we know them all. NYS was such a disastrous social experiment, that behind closed doors in the Constitutional Commission in 1993, wherein we drafted the Third Republic Constitution, the SPPF were asking us to let NYS close down and let it die a humble death. If we had asked them to keep it and improve it, they would have arrested us. By that time, the Clusters were falling apart, the bird’s eggs had been collected by young vulnerable girls on remote islands, the pigs had been slopped and starved to death, only the Ministers in Rene’s Government had gained weight. Vegetables planted and harvested made their way only to the dining tables of the elite. Boiled rice and mouldy fish was the diet of our Children at NYS in the name of the Revolution.

Mr. President of course, knows that experiments in education do not always work out the way they are supposed to. Children do not always fall in line and follow new rules.

NYS Results Are All Around Us

The results of the failed NYS experiment with education are all around us today. If you do not believe me, look to the National Assembly. Monitor the conduct of the Speaker. The Minister of Finance is another casualty of NYS. Last year, he told us that a $200 Million Bond secured had paid off all our Debts. He never thought that the Bond itself is a Debt and must be repaid. The President followed the same line as well. The Minister also added, the Bond Debt to Receivables subtitle when calculating our GDP and came up with 4% growth for 2006. Less the Bond, our growth rate is 0% in 2006. Recently, NYS graduates at SFA told us we have Prawns in our Ocean. They passed this on SBC as a great new discovery. Well, the Government of Mozambique has known about prawns in the Mozambique Channel and in Seychelles waters for years. Their economy is based on it. Prawns from Mozambique (Seychelles waters) find their way to markets all over Europe, Dubai, Middle East and South Africa. $80 Million later in debts created from Coetivy Island Farm to build prawn ponds and keep them alive artificially, now we discover “at a certain depth, with a certain current, prawns are numerous, prolific and reoccurring”. Now we need a boat for more research. Right! Thank you NYS!

The compounded disastrous effect of the NYS today on us cannot be determined, but it is safe to say that the amount of money lost to the People of Seychelles is in the $ Billions. It is so much money, that this sole mistake, taken in isolation, made by France Albert Rene in his political youth, immaturity and lack of foresight, had it not been undertaken, by stubborn Rene in his white safari suits then and white shoes, would have resulted in a successful Seychelles, that would be the envy of the World in economic performance today. We would not have welfare lines. We would not have Seychellois looking for menial jobs and cleaning fish for a living or sweeping streets. We would all be leaders in our own Country in respective fields, and would not have to rely on foreigners to do our thinking, for our SPPF CEO’s. Francis and David are living testimony of that.

Seychellois Can Compete In The World

By announcing the creation of University of Seychelles, Mr. President is creating another NYS, but at a higher more intense level. He is saying that in future our graduates from secondary schools and Poly, will not have the opportunity to go overseas without first attaining degrees at University of Seychelles. This announcement shows Mr. President believes that Seychellois cannot compete overseas with other students. But we can and we do just fine.

Mr. President cannot afford to keep sending our children overseas. This is true from a financial sense and a political sense as well. Many graduates come home complaining about Bursars not being paid on time by SPPF. Many come home, revoking support for the Government that paid their fees after being overseas for years; students open their eyes and become aware of the diabolical SPPF social experiments on our People. By being well educated, they become conscious of SPPF failure all around them.

Mr. President, we are an outward looking People. You want to make us look inward, without regard for what is happening in the World. Just as Rene failed in suppressing the minds of our Youth, Michel will fail as well in suppressing the minds of the Youth.

Universities Cost Millions And Cannot Be Done On A Shoe String

Mr. Presidents announcement was very general and provided little detail. The devil is always in the detail. A University cost Millions to operate. The School where I obtained my Doctorate, Willmette University, has an Endowment of $375Million, which forms the basis of its operations. That money is never spent. It is always invested. The University functions off the investment returns plus donations and Bursars. That is more then our Bond which we must repay in 4 years. If Mr. President decides to opt for a Virtual University, it will have difficulty downloading courses from the internet in a timely manner since we do not have the adequate fibre optic lines and connections to the outside world. To hook up to Africa One as an accessory to the University of Seychelles, it will cost over $30 Million.

How To Best Educate Our People

Since Mr. President is not connected, let me spell it out. The best way to educate our People today is to fix the economy first. You should call on all the best Doctors to lend a hand to do that. Once this is done, we will have the money to send our children to the best schools in the world, and not have to regulate them to schools in China, having to learn another language for 2 years before learning Medicine. Once our Children have gone to the best schools in the world, they will come back home, because with an open economy, which you have fixed, we will have become very, very prosperous. Because they went to the best schools, logic will dictate to the Graduates, that they must take the best opportunity before them which should be, to return home, if you have done a good job running the Country and fixing the economy. If you have done a bad job, they will stay in England or France or USA or even China and Mauritius until they find business opportunities amidst your failures..., which is possible... since they are smart.