The
Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MOBSE) on Tuesday organised a
two-day workshop to validate the draft report of the National Study of the
Out-of-School Children in The Gambia at the regional education directorate in
Kanifing.
Muhammad
Jamshed Khan, the lead consultant in the study, said the validation forum was
important to have the contribution and review of all the key stakeholders
before the document is finalised.
Basiru
Mbenga, principal education officer for region one, said the workshop was
geared towards specially looking at what was needed to be added to the draft
report.
Nuha
Jatta, UNICEF education specialist, said the National Study of the
Out-of-School Children is being conducted under the leadership of the Ministry
of Basic and Secondary Education with UNICEF providing the technical and
financial support.
The
study basically focuses on the number of children who are out of school, on the
children who are supposed to be in school or out of school, and where these
children are in terms of region, district, etc.
Mr
Jatta said the other component of the study looks at what conditions are there
that has been stopping children from coming to school, or what conditions exist
that are pushing children who are already in school to dropout, or what
conditions are there that are putting children in school at risk of dropping
out.
He
said another area of focus in the study is what policies and programmes can be
developed in order for the children who are not in school to come to
school.