The handing over of the bicycles was done through the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MOBSE) and was graced by school representatives, National Assembly representatives and other VIPs.
It would be recalled that schools in the rural areas have been benefiting from support such as bicycles from the Catholic NGO over the years, thanks to the helping hand from its partners based in Ireland.
However, the gesture was meant to ease movement and ensure timely arrival of students at school, especially those far-away from their schools. It also seeks to complement government’s efforts and help curb further spread of the deadly corona virus in the country.
The Catholic Development Office (Caritas Gambia) was established on January 1st, 2001 as the development unit of the Catholic Diocese of Banjul and registered with the Ministry of Justice as a charity, non-profit-making organization. The institution is mandated to coordinate the economic, social and development works of the Diocese with the aim of attaining a more humane and just society, irrespective of one’s creed, colour, race or ideology.
The school bicycle project started in 2018 and since then about nineteen containers loaded with bicycles have been distributed by Caritas from 2018 to date, according to a statement by Caritas Gambia, adding that eighteen of those containers were from Rotary Ireland through the initiative of Rev Fr. Sean W. Devereux, and one container from Job Club in Villingen Germany (a new partner).
At the handing over ceremony, Pedro Mendy, project coordinator of Caritas Gambia, recalled that the project was launched in 2018 and since then they had been able to receive 19 containers loaded with bicycles, which were distributed to schools in both the urban and rural areas.
“Since the commencement of this project, we have received 4,936 bicycles and we have supported different students, especially those that are far from their schools,” he said.
Mr Mendy thanked their donors in Ireland for the benevolent gesture of considering poor students in The Gambia.
“We all know the difficulties that most school children face to reach at their various schools,” he empathised, saying: “Therefore supporting Gambian children to have easy access to school is a step in the right direction and it is something that the Gambian needs to cherish.”
For his part, Dawda Faye, a representative from the Catholic Education Secretariat, urged beneficiaries to take ownership of the bicycles and maintain them to last long.
"You should not only be happy to receive this gesture, but you should take good care of them and continuously maintain them so that they can serve long," he reiterated.
The bicycles, he added, were given to the students for a purpose for which they should be used.
Babou Ceesay, National Assembly Member for Sabach Sanjal, cited the 1997 Construction, saying it states that every child has right to quality education. But, he went on, to achieve that quality education it is the responsibility of the government and other institutions to help students access it.
"In the rural area we see students who walk for about five kilometres to go to school, which is not easy," he said. The gesture, he added, was not the first time Caritas-Gambia had reached out to students by presenting them with bicycles through MOBSE.
He thus commended Caritas Gambia for the foresight and for ensuring that the project was realised in The Gambia.
