President James Michel received Mr. Karen Bedier, Ms. Ushna Dhanjee, Meenakshi Rajasundaram and Salina Sinon at State House this morning. All four students have gained straight A's in their examinations and won the Academic Excellence Award at the School of Advanced level Studies (SALS) for the 2013 cohorts..

The President commended them for taking their education seriously and wished them success in their studies at university level.

"I congratulate you for excelling in your studies and of course I also commend your school. I have trust in all of you and I am sure that you will continue to persevere and fly high the Seychelles' flag. I wish you all the best in your future studies, study well and come back to contribute in the development of your country. We need young people like you to take up leadership roles and bring the country to the next level of development," said President Michel.

The four students form part of a group of one hundred and fifty six students who successfully completed their A-level courses at the School of Advanced level Studies (SALS) and graduated in May this year.  Later this year they will be leaving the country to further their studies overseas in areas such as Law, Dentistry, Economics, Mathematics, Accounting and Financial Management.

Speaking to the local media after the meeting, they expressed gratitude for seeing the President and said that they will come back to work for the government.  They noted that in order to achieve good grades they had to sacrifice a lot in terms of social life, and that studied really hard, asked for assistance from teachers and close ones as well as used to the maximum resources at their disposal.

Also present during the meeting was the Minister for Education, Mrs. Macsuzy Mondon and Principal for the School of Advanced level Studies (SALS), Mr. Herve Young.