Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE), have spoken on the
importance of “International Day of Education” which is annually commemorated
worldwide on January 24th.
Ebrima Sisawo described the
day as an important day worldwide, stressing that generally, everyone knows how
critical the education sector is. “You cannot talk about any meaningful
development without education. Education should serve as the foundation for any
meaningful development in any country.”
He said his ministry has
achieved a lot on access to education, saying in 2015, the total student
enrollment in school stands at 411, 000, which now rose to more than 600, 000.
According to PS Sisawo, his
Ministry’s 2011 survey have found that there were various factors that
contributed to students’ dropping out of school and key among them is the cost
of school fees.
He said one of the steps
taken in getting quality education, include reviewing the school curriculum to
make it relevant to the chalk demands.
Mr Sisawo revealed that MoBSE
is currently working with The Gambia College to strengthen the capacity of
teachers and improve Early Childhood education, saying every year his ministry
sends nothing less than 300 teachers to the UTG to build their capacity.
“The most important way to
achieve quality education is to build the foundation of teachers.”
He highlighted that his
ministry’s intervention areas include sending students to Quranic schools to
study skills and knowledge in order to prepare them for jobs in the public
sectors.
