Education in The Gambia - Background

In 1988 the government of the Gambia was gravely concerned about the large numbers of children not access the formal school system and and the quality of the education for children in the school system. Before the 1988 – 2003 Education Policy was formulated, less than 50% of Gambian children went to school. The curriculum was irrelevant in some critical subject content to the needs and experiences of Gambians. In 1988 the Department of State for Education decided to spend the next five years concentrating on three issues:

1. ACCESS, 2. QUALITY , 3. RELEVANCE.

Up to that point the school system provided six years of primary schooling before entrance into Junior Secondary. This system was inflexible and adversely affected movement from primary to secondary school. This was changed to 6-3-3-2, which increased primary schooling to nine years with three years at Junior Secondary and two years at Senior Secondary school.

To solve the problem of facilities, the policy makers piloted the initative of `double shifting', allowing the same classsroom to be used twice during the day, which doubled the pupils getting an education.

The education of Gambian children was severely hampered by the lack of textbooks, particularly, relevant textbooks and other resource materials. The textbook loan scheme was introduced and textbooks were designed which were more relevant to the Gambian social and economic environment and the young person's experience.

In 1995 a Review of the Education Policy took place with extensive consultations with all the stakeholders in education, at government and non-governmental levels. At the same time a Public Expenditure Review took place in tandem with a review of policy. Lack of sufficient trained teachers continued to be a problem in trying to improve on the quality of education in the Gambia. The review revealed that there was inconsistency in spending in relation to spending on third level, which was free, while primary schooling was fee paying. One initiative to overcome this was course recovery, that all teacher training and other students at Gambia College were obliged to pay their contribution towards their training, this freed up resources to be put into Basic Education. The overall funding of Gambia College was increased and the intake of trainee teachers was increased.

Master Plan

A Master Plan was prepared at the directorate to assist in the implementation of education policy and covers the following issues:

Basic Education: Increasing the number of children who will have access to Basic Education is a vital part of the plan. The original target percentage of children with access to schooling for the period of the plan was 83%. During the revision of the plan the target number was revised upward, to 90%. The methods to achieve this are an extension of doubt-shift and multi-grade teaching, new construction and rehabiliation of existing facilities and incorporation of English into Madrassa education

Teaching Staff: Improvement of the supply and deployment of teachers, incentives/subsidies for the poort, and examine the extent and needs of special needs students. Increased Intake of Teachers: Gambia College has increased numbers of trainee teachers from 100 to 240.

Teaching Facilities: To facilitate access of greater numbers of Gambian children, the number of classrooms is increasing, under a Classroom Construction Programme initiative.

Early Childhood Education: Up to 1995 there was no means at central government level to finance Early Childhood Education, however, the department wanted be a position to offer Early Childhood Education at some future time. It was recognised at the highest levels within the department that the returns on investment in early childhood education are high It was felt necessary to look for policy direction and co-ordination of the services already being offered by local organisations and NGO's.

Early Childhood Education unit has prepared a White Paper on ECE. On a practical level, six hundred facilitators of pre-school facilities (covering age 4yrs – 6yrs) have been given the opportunity to attend facilitator training courses at Gambia College.

School feeding programme and special education activities: These initiatives are helping very poor or disabled children to have the opportunity to access education who were previously excluded.

Girls' Education: The enrolment of girls is growing faster, the issue now is retention of girls at school. This issue is being discussed within communities and at national level. Cost is the main barrier for families to overcome and the Scholarship Trust Fund has provided bright students with the opportunity to be sponsored at secondary level. To combat this the trust fund covers tuition, uniforms and examination fees. In regions where the intake of girls was lowest, URD/CRD, all Junior Secondary places for girls are free. The next issue to overcome is the shortage of Female Teachers. Rural communities want female teachers as role models.

Curriculum Revision: The curriculum is being revised, with a new emphasis on thematic approaches. In the new curriculum Communication Skills, Literacy and Numeracy, Life Skills will run across several subjects. The new curriculum however requires some in-service training for teachers.

Textbook Rental Scheme: The textbook rental scheme has been improved, originally the scheme gave one textbook per two children, now each child will have a set at Primary Level, and the books are free.Computers in Schools Project: Senior Secondary Schools are taking part in a computerisation programme for secondary schools. Computers have been installed in schools throughout the country and teachers are beng trained to use the computers. The issues arising for the schools are the high cost of maintenance and running costs of using high technology. The department is discussing how it can manage to make use of new technology in an affordable manner.

Management of Information/EMIS: Decision makers need up to date and accurate information to inform their policy and planning for education. A new database of information is being developed on teaching and education department personnel, school and departmental facilities enrolments, and statistics on all aspects of education, the EMIS (The Education Management Information System).

While the Department of State for Education has noted the improvements on many fronts, it has not rested, but, is constantly reviewing and reflecting on what can be further improved and how resources can be best used.