Air Seychelles and Seychelles Round Table donate 100 water fountains to schools

Air Seychelles and the Seychelles Round Table today donated 100 water fountains to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development as part of a larger community initiative to provide free drinking water to schoolchildren in Seychelles.

Worth more than SCR 500,000, the modern water fountains were presented to Joël Morgan, Minister for Education and Human Resources Development, at a ceremony this morning at Glacis School.

The fountains will be distributed to all government crèches, primary schools and secondary schools according to their number of students and installed in canteens, providing pupils with a healthy, clean source of water.

Air Seychelles initiated the project last year and was quickly joined by the Seychelles Round Table, which pledged to use funds raised during Regatta 2016, the popular annual beach festival, towards the cause.

Minister Morgan said: “This is an incredibly important project that directly supports our School Nutrition Policy and promotes the health benefits of drinking water. Having free drinking water will reduce the consumption of sugary drinks, combat obesity and ensure our children are hydrated, which is important for cognitive function and learning. The Ministry thanks Air Seychelles and the Seychelles Round Table for implementing this project.”

Roy Kinnear, Chief Executive Officer of Air Seychelles, said: “We’re delighted to play a role in bringing drinking water to all public schools in Seychelles. Air Seychelles prides itself on having a strong corporate social responsibility policy and with this project we’re accomplishing a number of positive objectives – promoting healthier habits for our youth and reducing the amount of environmental waste, especially from plastic bottles.”

Lenny Gabriel, President of Round Table Seychelles, said: “Ensuring that schoolchildren have drinking water available was our key goal for this project and we’re delighted to make it a reality. I would like to extend our appreciation to Air Seychelles for supporting this initiative as well as to our local partners and the people who came out and made the Round Table Regatta such a successful event in 2016. This water fountain project is the fruit of our combined efforts and everybody should feel proud for playing a role.”

“As the Round Table enters its 90^th year of existence and its 44^th year in Seychelles, we are proud to once again deliver a hugely positive project for our community as a result of the proceeds raised during the Round Table Regatta, the biggest fundraising event in Seychelles. Our water fountain project will encourage healthy habits in our children by providing readily accessible drinking water in schools. It’s a fantastic project and we wish to thank our partners and members of the public, whose continued support has made it possible.”

Air Seychelles and the Seychelles Round Table aim to work on a similarly large-scale community project as part of the 2017 edition of the Regatta.