President Barrow made these remarks on Saturday as he launched the Lot 1 of the fixed packed of the University of The Gambia development project at the Faraba Banta Campus.
In addition to the library, Lot One comprises the Business and Public Administration, Arts and Sciences, Education, and Information Technology and Communication.
The inauguration also witnessed President Barrow laying the foundation stone for the construction of Lot 2 project. He also named the Library of the University of The Gambia Faraba Banta after the late Vice President, Dr Alieu Badara Joof.
In his statements, Barrow noted that after 34 years of existence, the University of The Gambia now has a permanent home, saying the bitter experience of students trekking to and from rented halls and makeshift classrooms or, sometimes, attending classes under trees is now history.
He informed that at its recent Summit, the African Union recognized 2024 as the Year of Education and renewed its commitment to setting up an education system aligned with advanced socioeconomic development.
“Great and appropriate as this declaration is for the African continent, my government had already paid attention to the intricate link between education and socioeconomic development and had already reflected this in our national development plans,” he stated.
Whilst the declaration would strengthen their resolve in this endeavour, he said those magnificent university structures would not only add to the glamour and performance of the UTG as a learning centre to reckon with on the continent, but would also complement the other laudable initiatives in the education sector.
Given the urgent need to boost youth employment and fight poverty, he said the government has boldly embraced a robust transformation strategy for the higher education system.
“This new strategy is being piloted at the University of Applied Sciences, Engineering, and Technology (USET) through a World Bank Project of the Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence,” he said.
“Chiefly, the strategy has innovation and entrepreneurship components embedded in three engineering programs. Besides the new and upgraded tertiary institutions to provide university education and training, Government has also procured state-of-the-art equipment to support teaching and learning. Some of those items were unveiled during my last Meet-The-People Tour.”
President Barrow applauded partners of the construction of the UTG Faraba Banta Campus, which includes the Islamic Development Bank, Kuwaiti Fund, BADEA, Saudi Fund, and OFID.
To sustain the programs, he said: “We are training more Gambians at PhD level and will refocus subsequent projects to supporting this drive. I call on the relevant educational institutions to work with the Accreditation Authority for compliance and implementation of this policy.”
He concluded, saying: “To augment skills training, my administration is determined to establish well-resourced TVET Centres in all the regions of the country. The centres will be linked to USET. As planned, two TVET Centres of Excellence, a multi-purpose centre in Ndemban, and one on Agribusiness in Sapu will be established through World Bank support.”
Together with USET, the Centres will be supported with innovation and entrepreneurship hubs, the President said, adding: “This is enough evidence of how serious we are and how far we have gone towards transforming education and training in The Gambia.”
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