President Jammeh’s Disastrous

Education Program

BY Tijan Nimaga, Bronx New York

From the time the government of the former President of The Republic of The Gambia, Alahagi Sir Dawada Jawara, was ousted on July 22, 1994, the educational system in The Gambia began to fall apart. This failure is visible to the naked eye. Despite the fact that Yaya Jammeh’s government has continued to build more schools than ever before, it has failed to grasp the qualities that make a school an academic institution.

The Future Generation Lacks Basic Learning materials 

One of the most important institutions of The Gambia stands on Marina Parade on the outskirts of the Gambian capital, Banjul. This is no ordinary institution. It is the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC), and it is dedicated to providing profound academic excellence throughout West Africa. For years this board has provided skills to many of the current elite West Africans. When the WAEC officially terminated the Common Entrance Examinations and Secondary Fourth from its academic curriculum there was an atmosphere of joy, and even relief among the younger generation. Perhaps they felt victory that, for the first time, they no longer had to deal with tough mathematical questions from either REVISION MATHS or QUEENS WAY INTELLIGENCE, the two most widely used text books during the era of the Common Entrance Exams. 

The Gambian government saw this as a way to reduce its annual expenses nationwide but little did the English speaking West African countries know that the termination of these examinations would bring about a severe decline in the academic program. The preparations for the Common Entrance exam not only served to improve the academic performance of primary six pupils at that time but also prepared them well for the first year of high school. The route towards the Common Entrance Examinations and Secondary Fourth reminds me of one of the all time Gambian academics, the late Kekoto Manneh. He was an impressive scholar and his role as one of the examiners in WAEC’s academic programes was well known throughout the country. Working with ministers of the Department of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture like Dembo Jatta, Nyma Satta Sanneh Bojang, and Bakary B Darbo, Kekoto  Manneh and the senior officials of WAEC were able to provide techniques for a better education for the entire country. The efforts by Mr. Manneh are very much missed by both WAEC and the ailing educational system of The Gambia.

 The elimination of the Common Entrance and Secondary Fourth Examinations was well planned by all the member states except The Gambia. Sierra Leone and Liberia could have done much better than the Gambia had it not been for the war that claimed the lives  of thousands of innocent civilians which created a long time return back to class for many children and adults in those countries. It was at that difficult time in The Gambia that the Department of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture was trying to replace the gap left by the Common Entrance but, before a better system could be established, Yaya Jammeh and his companions lunched a coup d’etat  which not only  ousted the democratically  elected government of Alahagi Sir Dawda Jawara, but also completely destroyed their excellent educational programes  which had been established for nearly three decades. There are more bricks and mortar in the schools in The Gambia than textbooks and teachers. Thus the educational system of the current regime is a complete failure and it needs immediate and urgent attention if the Gambia is to meet the World Bank’s deadline to eradicate illiteracy in Africa before the end of the twenty second century.

My personal memory of the now defunct Common Entrance exam is of four subjects that every primary six pupil had to study. These were Mathematics text code 01, English Language text code 02, Quantative text code 03, Verbal aptitude text code 04 and Letter writing and composition. Excelling in these subjects prepared pupils to attend one of the very few high schools in the Gambia at that time. Secondary 4th Examinations also enabled students to attend a four year secondary education course, at the end of which students who achieved good results could either join third form students at High School or attend college. With these two unique systems, education was exciting at all levels and parents were not happy if their children were unable to pass the Common Entrance Examination. The Secondary fourth examination was also another educational achievement of concern to parents.

President Yaya Jammeh’s government has indeed built more schools as well as a University, but more classrooms alone cannot produce better education.  Providing fewer well educated teachers and fewer text books is like taking one step forward and two steps back.

From March 2004, The World Bank has provided funds worth about $9.4 billion to 87 low and middle income countries to help advance education. This includes countries like The Gambia and this money is evidently being misused to build schools for World Bank observers to see. However, these are buildings without teachers in them and without sufficient materials to fulfil their purpose. In some high schools in the provinces, there is not even a proper science laboratory.

By encouraging African countries to institute their own educational programs based on a needs assessment the World Bank certainly did not intend the fund to be used solely to impress them. The Bank itself agrees that African governments have failed miserably in forging bridges between education and economic development, and The Gambia is a shining example of this failure.

All other member states of WAEC, including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria are well ahead of The Gambia in terms of educational development, and my advice to President Yaya Jammeh is that it is time for our country to be a part of the modern world in terms of education. If not, we will stay behind civilization in terms of knowledge. Although index number oo32 or text code 02 for English, text code 01 for Mathematics, text code 03 for Verbal Aptitude and text code 04 for Quantitative are only memories, a revival of these would go a long way towards giving our young people the education they deserve. On a rather nostalgic yet befitting note, let us reflect on the immortal words of the legendary Senegambia kora maestro Jali Lalo Kebba Drammeh who said “KETUMA, FOTUMA, MBENGTUMA, DUNAYALONGMANDEE- DEH”