The principal of Bansang Senior Secondary School in the Central River Region south, Ismaila Ceesay, has raised concern over parents’ lack of interests in the education of their children, saying most parents are reluctant to attend parents-teachers meeting in his school.
Mr Ceesay, who was speaking in an interview with our reporter recently, said most parents care less about making follow-ups to know the performance of their children in school, which is making a very negative impact on the education of their children.
According to him, the attitude of the students towards their education is another challenge that needs urgent attention from the parents as most of the students do not take their education seriously.
Most parents, he said, are also contributing negatively towards the failure of their school children in the sense that even to buy textbooks, some parents find it very difficult, which is seriously affecting the students.
He said further that the importance attached to quality education cannot be overemphasized since achieving quality education for students depends on both the responsibility of the parents and teachers but parents play the key role to ensure their children have the basic needs of their education.
According to Mr Ceesay, in the past years, having qualified teachers was a major problem but now thanks to the President of The Gambia and his government for doing everything possible to ensure the country have the best qualified teachers in schools.
The country is proud of the Government of the day for providing education to the doorstep of the Gambians, he said.
Turning to the issue of addressing some of the needs of his schoolchildren, Mr Ceesay expressed the need for electricity in his school, saying his school is blessed with many computers from philanthropists but it has less room or no place conducive for the operation of the computers, causing the school to be currently renting a small place in town for the computers, which the students find very difficult to access.
He therefore appealed to the Government to consider his school in the area of electricity to ensure proper learning for the students.
He was also quick to praise the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education for their efforts in keeping the school moving, but still urged them to help his school with learning materials to improve the standard of education of the students.
He further commended the Government for building a model structure for the school, which is conducive for learning.
On performance of the students, Mr Ceesay said he is impressed with the performance of his students, especially about the 2013 West African examination council result, in the sense that many students came out with eye-catching results, which the school has not achieved before.
He then thanked his teachers for their commitment and dedication, saying they always organize free classes for the students with no cost, both day and night.
