Speaking on behalf of the Ministry, The Permanent Secretary, Mod A.K. Secka, said that the vision is geared towards addressing teacher quality in the country.
The reform is part of the Ministry’s transformation agenda to upgrade tertiary and higher education institutions to reputable world class standard. PS Secka notified that the Ministry’s framework for Gambia College is to disintegrate schools of Agriculture, Nursing and Midwifery and integrate them into the University of The Gambia’s Faculty of Agriculture, and School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences respectively. The School of Public Health at The Gambia College will be integrated into the WASCAL Faculty of the University of The Gambia. Thereby, the Gambia College School of Education will then stand alone and be upgraded to a degree awarding University for teachers.
The Ministry’s Strategic Plan identified that the new Teacher University will stop enrolling students in Primary Teacher’s Certificate PTC (Diploma programmes) to only Higher Teacher’s Certificate HTC (Advanced Diploma programmes). In five years, the plan of the Ministry is to phase out the HTC certificate to make the minimum qualification, a degree.
The new Teacher University will offer courses in different areas. These would include: a Bachelor of Science in Education with two teaching subjects, a Bachelor of Arts in Education with two teaching subjects, a Bachelor of Education in Administration or Management, a Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood, a Bachelor of Education in Curriculum Development and a Bachelor of Education in Education Planning.
The reform is meant to enhance not only teacher quality, but at the same time, quality in nursing, agriculture and public health.
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