By Assan Bah
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science, and Technology (MoHERST) in collaboration with the World Bank through the Resilience, Inclusion, Skills and Equity on Wednesday September 18, 2024 launch a nationwide survey focusing on the Madrassah and Majalis education system.
This survey according to the Ministry aims to gather critical data that will inform Policy Decision on the development of a strategy to mainstream madrassah education into the tertiary and higher education by aligning its curriculum with national education standards.
Giving his welcome remarks, Dr Yusupha Touray, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, said everybody has a responsibility to contribute their quota to national development and said this won’t be possible if one is not skilled.
He said it is the responsibility of the state to provide the opportunity for every citizen to be skilled. “Madrassah is the business of this government because they have equal right for education. Basic and secondary education is just a beginning and they also have the right to learn skills to take care of their own welfare or the state’s.
He said his ministry has recognised the number of Madrassahs and said it would not be desirable if they are not included in whatever the ministry is doing.
“The world is changing and how many of us will task ourselves the responsibility in taking care of the Imams and Islamic teachers. If they don’t learn skills they won’t be able to take care of themselves and their families. It is because of this MoHERST deemed it necessary to adjust these students to have the chance those that did their education in English have.
We have about 20% of our school going population in the Madrassah and they deserved better.
On his part, Muhammed Hassan Loum, the Consultant of the Study, said it is a five-year multi-sectoral project financed by the World Bank at the tune of 92 million US dollars that seeks to enhance the human capital by improving education quality and access, increasing employment opportunities extending social protection to the most vulnerable segments of society.
He said the study is a period of four months and its main objective is to identify critical gaps in the Madrassah senior secondary sector and he said once these gaps are identified, they will be able to design a comprehensive strategy to guide the process of integrating these students from the Madrassah sector into the mainstream sector.
He commended the Ministry for this initiative saying the Madrassah sector accounts for 20% of the school secondary school population and this is the first time that such study is being conducted, adding that it is a step in the right direction as it will ensure the meaningful inclusion of the madrassah education sector into the conventional learning system.
“In October, we planned to embark on the school survey for us to gather critical data, by conducting curricular surveys and inspection of physical infrastructures to know the capacity and gaps they have.”
He said they intend to visit all the 76 madrassahs that are operating senior secondary schools. “We will also interview 936 students from grades 10, 11 and 12 because they are the cohorts graduating to enter the tertiary and higher education sector.
He however, clarified people’s misconceptions on the study suggesting that this study has objectives to change the Madrassah ecosystem. “No, in fact this is an improvement on the Madrassah education system, this is not a change of your identity, and it is not telling you to change your modus of operandi. It is rather telling you to improve your capacities.”
In his key note address, Professor Pierre Gomez, the Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (MoHERST) said education must be inclusive and help Gambians to get the skills set and the lives and livelihoods to take charge of their destiny and in that process nobody should be left behind.
“We cannot put them into a confinement where we say the only thing they can do is to be an Oustas or to be an Imam. We are saying in a republic you can be an Imam and be an engineer, an auto mechanic, you have a profession.”
