President Adama Barrow has received a team of policy-makers, contractors and consultants at State House in Banjul on the 28th of March 2024, together with heads of Gambian institutions under the Ministry of Higher Education, to review the achievements and challenges of the Ministry.
The Delivery Forum’s discussions focused on improving education and widening access to higher education for all, the key to which is the transformation of the Gambia College into a University of Education.
Meanwhile, discussions at the Delivery Forum indicate that the School of Agriculture and the School of Nursing and Public Health at the Gambia College, will be integrated into The University of The Gambia’s School of Agriculture and Medicine respectively.
In his deliberation, Professor Pierre Gomez said human capital is a priority for the Government, and said the new Gambia is ready to support Gambian youth by giving them quality education which starts with infrastructural development.
He said the Ministry of Higher Education in collaboration with the Government and the World Bank RISE Project, will build a state-of-the-art National Laboratory equipment at Gambia College.
“It cannot be business as usual,” Minister Gomez emphasized, adding that the transformation process will affect all sectors including the National Agency for Quality Assurance, in monitoring and taking care of the quality assurance component. To maximise the impact of education on society and to ensure its success and sustainability, the Minister also put forward changes at the Faraba Banta Campus regarding the construction of the School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences. The Higher Education Minister also shared plans for resource mobilisation to provide state-of-the-art facilities and medical laboratories for the School of Medicine.
“For the first time, the country will have medical equipment we never had before,” he said.
For the information of the reader, President Barrow’s administration is embarking on a transformative journey in the education
Sector, and his Government’s plans include the construction of TVET centers across all regions and the transformation of the Management Development Institute (MDI) into a Civil Servants University, to enhance the professional training of civil servants for a more efficient public service delivery.
On his part during the discussion, the President remarked that this is part of his Government’s Civil Service Reform programme, and it is part of his Government’s agenda not just in the field of education, but also from the perspective of entrepreneurship and innovation. And for the first time in history, the Government of the Gambia through MOHERST will approve an annual stipend for students of the TVET programme equivalent to 400 dollars per student, to enable them start a business upon completing their course.
The Ministry also briefed President Barrow on the construction of Lot 2 of the Faraba Banta Campus and the Government’s partnership with MRC Holland Foundation on the ongoing consultation with contractors to build a dormitory for UTG students in Faraba.
Meanwhile, the construction of the University of Science, Engineering and Technology (USET) is said to be progressing satisfactorily. Following the presentation, President Barrow thanked the Ministry, its institutions and donor partners, for supporting the transformation of higher education in The Gambia.
