Ismaila
Ceesay, principal of Insight Training Centre (ITC), has said the mission of the
centre is to make training for skills acquisition accessible and affordable.
He
made this remark during the 17th anniversary of ITC held at the Churchill’s
Town branch in Serrekunda on Saturday.
Mr
Ceesay said the mission of Insight since inception has been to provide quality,
affordable, relevant and easily accessible skills training to everyone
especially the youth.
He
said it is in line with this mission that they expanded operations to Sinchu
Alagie and Basse.
He
noted that the anniversary offers the opportunity to reflect on the strides
made in fulfilling the mission and shortcomings encountered along the journey
so far.
“Until
we see Gambians are able and trusted to produce quality services that are
equated to the imported ones, we will not relent in our quest to do more,” Mr
Ceesay said.
ITC,
accredited by the national authority, is Gambian-owned and managed by a pool of
Gambians who are experts in their various fields.
“In
1999, we set out on a journey of uncertainty which is the establishment of a
training institution,” the principal said. “At that time, it was believed that
tertiary education was largely for non-Gambians because there were few training
institutions.”
Since
establishment, more than 3,000 people have graduated from Insight Training
Centre in different fields of study such as electrical installation,
architectural draughtsmanship, construction, information and communication
technology, journalism, marketing, management, human resources development, and
English language.
The
centre has also been expanded to Basse, more than 300km from Banjul, in Upper
River Region in January 2013.
“The
objective of the Basse branch is to extend tertiary education to rural Gambia as
most tertiary institutions are located within the Kombos and Banjul,” the
principal said.
“The
next challenge the school tasked itself now is to spread technical and
vocational training opportunities to all across the country to create access to
quality, relevant and marketable skills.
This is really a goal that Insight Training Centre is struggling to
achieve.”
Mr
Ceesay said 30% of the students are on scholarship, adding that giving
scholarships to needy students enrolled at the school has been a tradition
since inception.
“As
a practice, Insight Training Centre offers scholarship to the best student in
each class every year from day one of its operations,” he explained.
The
ITC principal said the school can boast of having most of its graduates, if not
all, in either the private or public sector.
“Almost
all our students are engaged, either being employed or self-employed,” he said.
“As
a success story, all our classroom blocks, monument and staff house and
generally everything structure at the Annex is done by the students themselves
as part of their practical.”
At
Sinchu Annex, there is now 24-hour power supply as the installation of the
solar system had been completed since October 2015.
Mr
Ceesay said: “The prison project, geared towards the training of inmates in
electrical installation, is completed and we are awaiting the graduation
ceremony.
“Ultimately,
our prisons will become a correction centres.
It will also serve as deterrent to most of them if not all. The inmates will walk out of the jail with
some degree of skills and knowledge to keep them busy that they will not be
found wanting to go back to jail again.”
On
staff welfare, the principal said the school has a staff welfare credit union
where almost all the staff have benefitted from loan scheme at the lowest
interest rate in the country, 5%.
Mr
Ceesay said that in February 2016, officials of the Ministry of Higher
Education visited Insight as the biggest private tertiary institution to test
the ministry’s monitoring and supervision guidelines for tertiary and higher
education institutions.
The
grading for schools of excellence starts at 70% and ITC scores 89.3%, making it
one of the schools of excellence thanks to the leadership of the board,
management and staff, the principal said.
