The Saint-Louis Charles N'Tchoréré Military Prytanée (PMS) perpetuated, this Friday evening, one of its most emblematic traditions with the ceremony of awarding badges to the new cadets.

Presided over by the Chief of Staff of the French Navy, Rear Admiral Abdou Sène, this solemn ceremony marks the official entry of seventy-nine (79) students into the prestigious military institution. These new students, from fourteen (14) African nationalities, thus reinforce the pan-African dimension of the Prytanée.

In his address, the school's commandant, Colonel Abdoulaye Mbengue, emphasized the symbolic significance of the ceremony, which enshrines the transmission of the founding values of the cadets. According to him, it is a moment for internalizing a code of honor built on discipline, respect, loyalty, and a sense of duty.

"Through the beret, the beret badge, the rope and the epaulettes, we explain to the students the profound meaning of the attributes they now wear. These are the symbols of the school, consciously adopted, with an understanding of what they represent," he said.

Colonel Mbengue also paid a heartfelt tribute to the class's patron, the late Captain El Hadji Thierno Seydou Nourou Kébé. A former cadet and former commandant of the Prytanée, he had, according to Colonel Mbengue, greatly contributed to the prestige and strengthening of the institution.

The new class is composed of young people from Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad, thus confirming the regional and international focus of the Saint-Louis Military Academy. It should be noted that the ceremony took place in the presence of the students' parents.