Vanuatu’s Lycee School signs agreement with DARD

An agreement was signed by Acting Principal Agriculture Officer (South), Peter Iesul, on behalf of the Director for DARD and the Acting Principal for Lycee LAB to facilitate this.

Lycee School has expressed interest in working with DARD to ensure their agriculture students have the opportunity to do practical work relating to the lessons they have learned in the classroom.

This is the second MOA signed between DARD and two well- known schools in Port Vila.

The first agreement was signed with Malapoa College in 2018 and the second agreement with Lycee School.

Young people or students are tomorrow’s future “so if we want young people or students to invest in agriculture in the future, we have to train them now while they are still in school”, Mr Iesul said.

He said, “the signing of agreement is significantly important as it provides a mechanism for Lycee Agriculture teachers to work with DARD Technical Officers. Most students study agriculture in theory but practically, they don’t experience what they have been taught in the classroom. Partnership is very important. It is a bridge build for students to have access to information sharing and networking between Lycee School and DARD.”

The agreement clearly stated obligations between DARD and Lycee LAB.

The area allocated for Lycee students is one hectare.

According to the agreement DARD’s tractor will be used for bush clearing and ploughing before the students can use the area for practical.

“Agriculture teachers will have to work with DARD Technical Officers for the students to do practical work and research work to improve technical knowledge of students”, said Mr Iesul.

The knowledge obtained from agriculture practical work will assist the students to consider the importance of food security and build their interests to venture in farming as a business in the future. “We want to see students utilizing the farm, doing research, collecting data analysing results, and achieving excellent grades on their   assignments.

Lycee School is one of the biggest francophone school in Vanuatu with over 800 students, 55 teachers and 21 ancillary staff.

It has very limited space to do agriculture practical though the school has been educating the students on agriculture courses from years 7 to 10.

Photo supplied Caption: Acting PO South, Peter Iesul signing the MOU.