By Abdou Mbye
Information Officer
Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education
The Board Chairperson of Kaiaf Senior Secondary School (SSS) has lamented that scores of trained teachers are leaving the teaching profession for other lucrative jobs in the country.
Mr. Ousman Yarboe called for the introduction of retention mechanism with incentives to retain qualified teachers in the sector, as it helps to improve standards and quality education delivery in schools.
“The challenge we have is lack of qualified teachers. Ever since, teachers are leaving the teaching service for other professions and that is a big challenge,” he decried.
Mr Yarbou made these statements at a convergence of School Board Chairpersons organized by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) on Friday, 20 October in Banjul.
He highlighted that the convergence was long overdue, saying that a combination of challenges has led to the low performance of students in schools.
He said there should be liaison between the ministry and board chairpersons to provide relevant education stakeholders the opportunity to participate in policy development procedures and implementation.
Addressing the convergence, Mr Adama Jimba Jobe DPS Programs at MoBSE informed the school stakeholders that the discussion was premised on examining the reason for low performance of students and dialogue as stakeholders on processes to alleviate the issue. He further urged board chairpersons to engage with school Principals in prioritizing school funding budgets, focusing mainly on the delivery of effective teaching and learning, thus, enhancing great improvement in performance.
Dr Malang Fanneh, Board Chairperson of Brikamaba Senior Secondary School said teachers should be highly motivated to stay in rural places, citing the growing cost of the standard of living in provincial areas. To bridge the regional performance gap, he posited that there should be a policy in place to retain outstanding studentsas well as teachers in provinces.
The convergence was part of the ministry’s all-inclusive approach in providing an educational system that would be responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people. The event was meant to diagnose the country’s current education status in relation to performance and map out ways of addressing the gaps, proffering solution to avert the trending unfavorable condition as well as creating a meaningful and development-oriented society.
