Improving quality education implies cultural change: PEO Camara

Alpha Camara, Principal Education Officer for region five, has said that improving quality education implies cultural change, a shift emphasis in comprehension and social construction of knowledge.

Mr Camara made this statement while addressing graduates in the 5th anniversary, speech and prize giving ceremony of Bansang Senior Secondary School held at the school grounds at the weekend.

According to Camara, education is regarded as a tool for school, economic and political development, as contained in the national education policies.

“Education has undergone significant change in recent times and having key driving factors in transformation of education is the demand for accountability by stakeholders due to the dynamic changes in the global environment,” he added.

The poverty elimination and progress towards sustainable development can only be realised with increased and improved level of education, he says.

“Upholding the right of everybody to a quality basic education as embedded in the 1997 constitution of The Gambia; can help in realising the targets of Education For All (EFA) and the MDGs,” he says, adding that the quality of secondary education as reflected by the performance of the students at the WASSCE, leaves a lot to be desired.

In 2007, 90.93%, 66.65% and 63.82% of candidates failed mathematics, English language and science respectively, which calls for specific strategies for students, teachers, the administration and the community as a whole.

For his part, Lamin Jobe, vice principal of Bansang Senior Secondary School, in his report, gave an account of what happened in the past academic year on the achievement, constraints and the way forward.

He noted that the 2010/11 WASSCE result indicated some improvement in the performance of girls registered in school compared to the boys.