By Amadou Manjang
The Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Claudiana Ayo Cole, has condemned irregular migration among school going children whilst encouraging them to stay and complete their education.
According to the Minister, there are a lot of students that are dropping out of school to embark on irregular migration to Europe in search of greener pastures.
In her words: “Some of our young people [boys] in our schools are abandoning their education and leaving through illegal migration.”
For this reason, she further noted that there are more girls in school than boys.
“We have more female population than male population in the country but our boys are dropping out because of illegal migration. They are leaving the girls in the classrooms. I wonder what will happen,” she said.
She made these remarks during the award ceremony of the ten outstanding students of 2023 Gambia Basic Education Certificate Examination.
She therefore urged young people to take their education seriously to complete their studies.
“Nobody says you should not go but go when it’s time to go. I want to ask you young people to forget about it now and focus on your education,” she added.
Cole further said that most of those who embark on the journey do not succeed.
And when they return, she said, the burden now lies on the Government of the Gambia to take care of them.
She commented that it is difficult to take care of the returnees and integrate them, adding that she doubts if there are any budgets allocated for them.
