CHAPTER 6: REVIEW OF IMPROVEMENT OF RELEVANCE QUALITY AND AFFORDABILITY

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Policy Background and Objectives

One of the broad policy objectives of the Education Policy is to improve the quality of mainstreaming education; through professional development of personnel including teachers, senior and middle level managers. The latter is treated in the sector dealing with the Management of the Education sector.

6.3. Relevance

Relevance and quality remain primary objectives for the provision of education both at the Basic and Secondary levels and at all levels. All programmes are to provide relevant, affordable and quality education. These are not only crosscutting issues but are priority targets in the development of education for the world of work, and for life skills for the survival of the individual. In fact the objectives and goals of education are now premised on fight against poverty or on poverty eradication in the Gambia as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Relevance and quality are also related to the type of curriculum and whether the curriculum will adequately prepare the student for higher education or the world of work. In this regard, the teaching syllabus at both the basic education and Senior Secondary Schools have been reviewed and adapted to provide relevant education with emphasis on the development of a critical understanding of knowledge application, problem solving skills, manipulative skills, good citizenship and environmental education across all levels. The curriculum content and focus are as follows, (Education Policy 2004-2015).

1) The teaching of pre-vocational and technical education to be reinforced at the basic cycle level to build competence for a good foundation for the labour market and industry of Gambian youth

2) Priority is placed on the prominence and appreciation of agriculture, main stay of the economy, through school agriculture, the teaching of Agricultural science, and by making the school agricultural and food programme, through the Schools Farms and gardens, part of the teaching and learning process

3) The pre-school (ECD) is to prepare the child for the formal school and the medium of instruction should be in the mother tongue/area language of the child

4) At the lower basic level, the core subjects are English, Mathematics, Science, Social and Environmental Studies/Integrated Studies and French

5) During the first 3 years of the basic cycle, the medium of instruction will be the predominant language of the area in which the child lives. English will be taught as a subject from grade 1 and will be used as a medium of instruction from grade 4. Gambian languages will be taught as subjects from grade 4.

6) The upper basic curriculum will continue to provide basic skills, knowledge and capabilities in science, technology, agriculture and general subjects. It will also provide opportunities to acquire pre-technical, pre-vocational, agriculture, and basic science knowledge and skills to enable pupils to become self-reliant. The use of ICT

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as a teaching and learning tool, which is currently limited at the SSS, will be progressively expanded to all the levels.

7) Regarding Special needs, the policy emphasis is on inclusiveness and participation in mainstream education by the mildly disabled.

The subjects as harmonized at the upper basic level and offered at the SSS level are namely,

I. Foreign languages (Including English, French, and Arabic)II. Mathematics

III. Science and TechnologyIV. Commerce subjectsV. Religious Knowledge and moral education

VI. Arts subjectsVII. Physical and Health Education

VIII. Life skills educationIX. Technical subjectsX. Agricultural Science

XI. National languages

As should be expected the provision of subjects for school use is dependent upon the availability of resources including qualified teachers to teach these specialist subjects. The current acute shortage of qualified Gambian teachers at the SSS level would have to be addressed by substantially increasing the graduate and specialist teachers’ outputs from the tertiary and higher education institutions. The current enrolment and expected-outputs of trained and qualified teachers from the training institutions would have to increase substantially if these set programmes are to be implemented effectively and those that are concerned with pre-vocational pre-technical vocational and technical, science and technology, including agriculture, require large investments in the form of infrastructure class-rooms and laboratories, technical training equipment and farming inputs. All these require substantial investment outlays in areas, which the donors on education and international partners such as the IDA have not been willing to provide investment funds for. Thus at the upper basic and senior secondary level the provision of technical and vocational education is very weak as a result of the absence of metal or carpentry training workshops which are significant elements of vocational education or due to ill-equipped science labs, which jeopardize the whole objective of promoting and developing science and technical education. If the stated objectives of technical and vocational skills acquirement are to be achieved substantial investment in terms of funding, trained personnel and adequate facilities would be required to achieve relevance of education at the basic and Senior Secondary Schools level.

6.4. Quality

Quality, like relevance, remains one of the biggest challenges of the education system in the country. In the first part of the Education Policy 1988-2003, no targets were set for learning outcomes. More emphasis was placed on inputs, namely access, than outputs and learning achievements. The main objectives to improve the learning outcomes from grade 1 – 9 were to develop a new structured programme at Gambia College to train all unqualified teachers by 1996, and to make a significant increase in the expenditure on learning materials and revise the curriculum.

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There are several indicators used by the DOSE to determine the extent of quality achieved in the learning process delivered at the basic education level. These include, the percentage of qualified teachers in the system, the number of primary teachers certified to teach, and pupil/teacher ratio, repetition rates by grade, survival rate at grade 5 and the proportion of Grade 6 students who have mastered a set of nationally defined basic learning competencies. A recent perception survey conducted by the UTG team of consultants on Monitoring Progress on Good Governance (2004), data indicates that a majority of Gambians perceived the quality of education to be good. Table 19 shows perceptions of household heads on quality of public education.

Table 19: Perceptions of Household heads on the Quality of the Public Education Service, 2004

Public Education Quality Frequency PercentVery good 17145 13.2%Good 71855 55.3%Fair 23484 18.1%Poor 14125 10.9%Very poor 3228 2.5%Total 129836 100%Not Stated 3067Total 132903

The perceptions of heads of households on the quality of education services generally endorse that there has been some improvements. Over 55.3% are of the view that educational services are good, but only 13.2% consider it very good. This later is a very small percent level. Some 18% considered being fair while 10.9% and 2.5% consider it to be poor and very poor respectively.

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Since no targets were set on learning outcomes, the success rates of individual schools and candidates at selection entrance examinations at the end of grades 6 and 9 were the only available indicators one could use to measure success rate (PERS 2001). This however may not be a good measurement of learning achievements since it was a selection examination based on the availability of space that determined the percentage of students that would transit to the next level and remains so for the Senior Secondary School level. The following table 20 shows JSSC Examinations results 2001 (DOSE)

Table 20: DOSE Results of 2001 JSSC Examination.

Subject Passing level 1-3

Passing level 4-6

Passing level 7-8

Fail

English

AllFemale

7%8%

19%15%

12%10%

62%67%

Moths

AllFemale

1%1%

2%1%

14%11%

84%86%

Science

AllFemale

3%2%

13%9%

32%19%

62%71%

Social Studies

AllFemale

10%6%

14%10%

36%30%

40%54%

Islamic Studies

AllFemale

10%6%

12%7%

7%5%

71%82%

Agriculture

AllFemale

11%8%

25%19%

12%10%

52%63%

Art

AllFemale

11% 8%

43%$9%

25%27%

21%71%

Although this is not a good measure of what most students have learnt, nevertheless, the high proportion of failures at the Junior Secondary Certificate examination must be worrying, and

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indeed the low grade level of those passing is an indication of inadequate teaching/learning quality. Girls in particular seem to have a much higher failure rate than boys.

New benchmarks have been set to clearly define learning outcomes. The annual National Assessment Test (NAT) is institutionalized to inform the system on pupils’ performance at the lower basic level. Quality indicators on learning achievements at the lower basic level show a growing need to improve the learning achievements of children. The indicators show that only 10% and 6.7% of the sample size of 25 grade 4 students met the achievement levels in English and Mathematics respectively. (Education Policy 2004 – 2015) This shows an extremely low learning achievement level. In a more graphic manner it means over 90% of the sample failed to make the mark. Furthermore these alarming low levels of achievement mostly affected the rural schools where fewer trained teachers are located.

6.5. Quality of Teachers and Teacher Supply

There are several issues that determine teacher education in this country. The success of the 9-3- system depends to a large extend on the availability of sufficient number of trained and highly qualified teachers. The proportion of qualified teachers in primary schools indicate the general quality of the country’s human capital involved in teaching in primary education (EFA 2000 Assessment). The current education policy is designed to provide access to enrolment at the primary level and a greater retention of students at the basic education level, including UBS until all children of relevant age range (6-15) are in school. Consequently there will be a higher demand for teachers, which will even be greater if teachers envisaged for the Madrassa, non-formal education and special needs education are to be included.

In order to achieve the targeted increases in GER during the policy period 1988 - 2003 and subsequent policies, the need to provide a corresponding increase in the supply of qualified teachers was recognized. The Education Policy strategies on teacher education and training stated that for enrolment to increase to 855 in the year 2003, the grades 1 – 6 teaching force will have to increase from 3,370 to over 6,000. This means that Gambia College is required to broaden the scope of its teacher training courses to meet the above target both at the PTC and HTC levels to adequately cater for teacher demand at the basic cycle and for secondary schools. To meet these targets at least 3,000 additional trained teachers are needed at the primary level and the 900 and 600 additional trained teachers are needed for junior secondary and Senior Secondary Schools, respectively

As more subject areas, which widens the curriculum get introduced, more demands for teachers will consequently follow. One key issue for teacher education is the capability to produce sufficiently trained and specialist teachers to meet the demand both in quantity and quality for the 9-3-system of education.

Although this review is on the past policies, it is important to highlight present relevant teacher education training and supply expressed in policy objectives, goals, strategies and outputs.

In the 2004 to 2015 Education Policy, the specific policy objectives on teachers are namely:

Increase the supply of qualified teachers and make more efficient use of the teaching force by maintaining the pupil/ teacher ratio at 45:1 at the basic level

Increase double-shift classes from 25% to 32% by 2015 across all levels

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Phase-out double shift teachers by 2015 Improve the quality of teaching and learning at all levels Improve learning outcomes at all levels Introduce the 5 national languages, Mandingo, Pularr, Wollof, Sarahule and

Jola to be taught at all levels of education during the policy period. Increase the transition rate from grade 9 to 10 by 50% Increase the quota of graduate teachers of Gambian nationality at the level of

the SSS from 26% to 100% by 2015.

Teacher education and teacher supply is general provided by the Gambia College. The College offers two or three years of post-secondary level courses in teacher training agriculture, nursing and midwifery in the four constituent schools. The current student population is about 1,200 of which 80% are in education and agriculture, and the others in nursing, midwifery and health. The School of Education offers courses, that lead to Primary Teachers Certificate (PTC) and the Higher Teachers Certificate (HTC). The University of the Gambia offers courses leading to a B. ED, and the GTTI offer Technical Teacher Certificate Courses including HTC. Distance education for teacher training is offered by both the Gambia College and the UTG.

Teacher education and training are strategies generally put in place to improve the quality of education. The education policy recognizes the teacher as the pilot and conduit of the students’ learning experiences in gaining knowledge, attitudes and skills that are provided in the curriculum.

The present standards and quality in schools as reflected in the external examination results show low transition and high drop rates suggesting an urgent need to improve the quality of teacher education. The teacher is increasingly becoming the focus of attention and interest because of the pivotal role he/she plays in the delivery of education. The unqualified teacher or UQT and the ill-prepared teacher have some undesirable effects on the quality of education even if their employment remains less expensive to qualified teachers. It is against this background that quality continues to be a key concern. The poor or ill–preparation of teachers in the past has some undesirable effects in the delivery system. One main problem facing teacher education is the inability of the teacher training system to respond quickly to the difficult task of training teachers to handle the increasingly complex process of education in the context of limited and competing resources. This being so, the efficiency of the professional staff is crucial. For the success of education, the teacher has to keep up with the knowledge explosion and as the curriculum gets more crowded with themes such as environmental, population and family life education, life skills, ICT, Peace and Conflict and civic education, improvement in new teaching techniques and teacher training must be developed. Likewise the poor performance of students in Mathematics, Science, and English in external examinations is a reflection of poor quality performance of teachers.

Since the beginning of the second half of the 1990s, the Policy began to put more focus on teacher management with a view to achieving efficiency and quality in the delivery of basic education. In 1995 a teachers’ census exercise was conducted by DOSE with a view to control the number of unqualified teachers and also to weed out any “ghost” teachers in the systems. The DOSE also adopted an exams system for recruitment of UQT setting minimum standards for their employment. It further restricted their employment to 20% of the total at the lower basic level and 10% at upper basic. Many qualified contract teachers, that is those who have already retired from the system, are also hired to help meet the shortfalls in teacher

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supply and to meet the policy target of 45:1 pupil/teacher ratio (PTR). This is combined with a policy of multi-grade teaching where appropriate, and where enough teachers are not available, some are asked to teach double-shift and are paid an additional salary equivalent to 50% of the salary.

The distribution of qualified teachers however is heavily skewed to the urban areas instead of the areas where they are most needed, namely the rural areas. This is largely due to the lack of an effective postings policy based on regional needs. In schools in remote areas, it is not unusual to find only one qualified teacher among the whole staff. This phenomenon needs to be addressed so as to achieve equity in quality of human resources (qualified teachers) distribution and to achieve the quality targets in all regions at the basic education level.

In order to increase the female qualified teachers, the Remedial Initiative for Female Teachers (RIFT) Programme was introduced at the Gambia College. This initiative was introduce to accelerate the participation of female qualified teachers, as their presence in the schools and in the education system is believed to boost girls’ education and to serve as role models to females who could be emulated.

6.6. Achievements – Teacher Supply

On teacher education and training, the Education Policy states that for enrolment to increase to 855 in the year 2003, the grades 1 – 6 teaching force will have to from 3370 to over 6000. This means that Gambia College is required to broaden the scope of its teacher training courses to meet the above target both at the PTC and HTC levels to adequately cater for teacher demand at the basic cycle and for secondary schools. To meet these targets at least 3000 additional trained teachers are needed at the primary level and the 900 and 600 additional trained teachers are needed for junior secondary and Senior Secondary Schools respectively.

Through out the 1990s’ the number of teachers at the basic cycle has been on the increase. In 1991 there were 2,876 teachers and in 1998 the total increased to 4,448; that is an increase of more than 54%. A similar increase of 53.8% and 56.7% was recorded for male and female respectively over the same period.

The number of certified teachers has also increased by 107% over the period. The total number of certified teachers was 1,563 in 1991 and by 1998 this increased to 3,239. In 1991, 54.3% of the teachers were certified compared to 73% by 1998. The proportion of qualified teachers continued to rise until 1995/96 when a sharp decline was experienced. This was due to the large number of unqualified teachers who were employed in the system at that time.

The proportion of certified female teachers has also been steadily on the increase over the period. This has increased from 50.7% in 1991/92 to 73.7% in 1998/99, an increase of 23-percentage point. On the other hand the proportion of certified male teachers fluctuated over the period as in 1991/92 and 1992/93 when the proportion of certified male teachers was 56%, an increase of 5.6% by 1993/94, but declined by 7.8% in 1995/96 before it picked up again to attain a peak 73% in 1998. The following Table (21) shows the trends and percentages of certified teachers from 1991/92 to 1998/99.

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Table 21: Percentage of Teachers certified to Teach – 1991/92 to 1998/99

Item 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94 1994/95 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99Total Qualified

54.3 55.0 61.7 62.6 57.1 56.7 67.1 72.8

Male 56.0 55.9 61.6 48.3 55.4 54.9 66.8 72.4Female 50.7 53.2 62.1 59.6 61.2 61.3 68.0 73.7

In general the public view is that the teachers who are certified have adequate training. The following table 22 shows the opinions of household heads on the adequacy of teacher supply

Table 22: Distribution of Household Heads by Opinion Trained Teachers adequacy, 2004

Trained Teachers Frequency Valid PercentVery good 13114 10.7Good 64678 52.9Fair 32432 26.5Poor 10236 8.4Very Poor 1779 1.5Total 122239 100.0NS 10664Totals 132903

This shows that some 52.9% consider the supply of trained teachers to be very good. Some significant 26.5% consider it to be fair. Only a small minority 8.4% and 1.5% consider it to be poor and very poor.

6.7. Gender and Regional Disparities in Certified Teachers Supply

Although substantial achievements have been made in increasing the stock and quality of the teacher supply, there are significant gender and regional disparities, which still remain as challenges and constraints to quality delivery of education service. Between 1991/92 and 1997/98, Region 2 had the highest number of certified male teachers. In 1995/96, when the regions were further divided into six, only 9.2% and 8% certified teachers were en-post in Regions 5 and 6; and only 3.5% and 2.7% were female respectively.

Table 23 indicates that Region 1 peaked in 1994/95 with 31.8% of certified teachers with 67% of certified female teachers in the same year. But while Region 1 had an average share of 55.4% of certified female teachers, Regions 3,4,5 and 6 had an average share of 8.6%, 4.3%, 2.0% and 2.4% respectively. There are great regional and gender disparities in the supply of teachers. The combined share of the last 4 Regions was less than one-third of the stock of certified teachers in Region 1. The trend and disparities certainly are dysfunctional to the attainment of the key objectives of equity and quality which are among the pillars of the education Policy and priority areas as these distribution features undermine quality in the regions as untrained teachers fill the vacant positions for trained teachers.

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Table 23: Trends in the Distribution of Certified Teachers by Region and Gender 1991/92 – 1998/99

Item 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94 1994/95 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 AverageRegion 1

MaleFemale

30.5%

18.959.6

30.3%

18.258.4

31.5%

19.458.1

31.8%

25.960.7

30.1%

18.855.0

30.7%

20.653.1

28.4%

19.050.8

29.4%

21.147.6

30.3%

20.255.4

Region 2

MaleFemale

28.8%

30.724.0

29.5%

31.525.0

30.5%

31.921.3

27.3%

35.727.9

28.6%

28.728.4

31.3%

32.029.7

29.9%

29.630.7

29.9%

29.431.0

29.5%

31.227.2

Region 3

MaleFemale

23.4%

28.410.8

23.1%

28.211.3

22.4%

28.19.9

15.7%

25.57.4

14.4%

17.87.1

14.8%

17.88.1

13.5%

17.05.4

15.0%

17.79.0

17.8%

22.58.6

Region 4

MaleFemale

17.3%

22.05.6

17.0%

22.15.3

15.6%

20.64.6

8.1%

12.94.0

8.5%

10.83.4

7.8%

10.13.1

8.9%

10.84.2

7.7%

9.44.0

11.4%

14.84.3

Region 5

MaleFemale

0.0%

0.00.0

0.0%

0.00.0

0.0%

0.00.0

9.2%

15.23.5

10.3%

14.02.3

11.0%

14.82.7

11.3%

14.43.9

10.25%

13.13.9

6.5%

8.92.0

Region6

MaleFemale

0.0%

0.00.0

0.0%

0.00.0

0.0%

0.00.0

8.0%

13.52.7

8.0%

9.93.8

4.3%

4.73.2

8.0%

9.34.4

7.8%

9.34.4

4.5%

5.82.4

It should be noted that even though the percentage of certified female teachers have increased and have on average outnumbered the male, 61.2% as compared to 58.9%, a different scenario emerges when the total stock is taken and disaggregated by gender. The following Table 24 is a summary of trends in the stock of certified teachers by gender for 1991/92, 1994/95 and 1998/99 giving 4-years spacing periods.

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Table 24: Trends in the Stock of Certified Teachers by Gender, 1991/92, 1994/95 and 1998/98.

Gender 1991/92 1994/95 1998/99Male 71.5% 53.2% 68.6%Female 28.5% 29.6% 31.4%

Table 24 shows that while 68.6% of certified teachers are male, only 31.4% are female. This is similar to other indicators and shows that the certified males dominate females. If however the policy of using females as role models is to be achieved, there must be a significant proportional increase of certified female teachers into the teaching stock to facilitate their equitable distribution and those of other qualified teachers in to the most needy regions as identified above.

At the SSS level (Table 13), the private or grant-aided schools, instead of the state, hire most of the teachers. Out of the teacher stock of 615, there were 19 in public schools, 195 in private, and 329 in grant-aided schools. Of this total there were only 156 Gambians representing 25% of the total. There were also only 73 female teachers representing 12% of the total teaching force at the SSS level. Female teacher presence remains very low and has actually declined from 21% 1991/92 to 13% in 1995/96 and further down to 12% in 2001/2002. This disparity is even more pronounced at the regional distribution level. In Region 1, female teachers constituted (17%), in Region 2, (6%), Region 3, (3%), Region 4, (4%), Region 5, (2%) and Region 6 (0%). (Educational Statistics at A Glance 2001/2002 Preliminary Figures, April version, DOSE 2002)

6.8. Efficiency Issues

6.8.1. Repetition Rates

Efficiency is concerned with the extent and manner that education or some sections of it accomplish the set goals. Technically, efficiency may be defined as the ratio of outputs to inputs in a system. Internal efficiency pointers include completion rates of students; expected average grade attained per student, expected duration of schooling per student, and expected number of students per graduate. These indicators for the rate of flow are derived from drop out and repetition rates. Repetition is a sign of inefficiency. Resources put on repeating students could be better utilized on quality inputs such as books and learning materials. The Education Policy 1988-2003 was silent on repetition targets, which by the mid-Policy Review was found to be high. With a view to minimizing this, the Revised Education Policy set a target of reducing the repetition rate to 4% by 2005. This level has already been achieved.

There is very little variation in regional and gender distribution of repetition rates at the basic level although these have fluctuated over the years. The male repetition rates are also higher than female rates. It is however significant to note that repetition is higher in grades 1 and in grade 6, prior to the abolition of the PSLCE. The former ranged from 19.2% in 1991/92 to 16.8% in 1997/98 and the latter ranged from 24.9% to 6.8% over the same period. The high repetition rates at grades 1 and 6 are attributable to the high percentage of new entrants to grade 1 particularly in the rural areas, who are under the official school entry age. The following Table (25) shows trends in repletion rates by grade from 1991/92 to 1997/98. (EFA 2000 Assessment Report)

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Table 25: Trends in Repetition Rates (%) 1991/92 to 1997/98

Year Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 National Average

1991/92 19.2 10.8 10.8 10.5 13.4 24.9 14.91992/93 19.0 13.2 9.4 9.8 12.9 20.4 14.11993/94 20.1 11.7 11.1 9.1 10.4 20.8 13.91994/95 18.9 12.7 11.3 10.8 11. 9 15.2 13.51995/96 17.9 12.8 12.6 11.8 12.9 12.9 13.51996/97 16.8 10.2 10.8 9.9 9.9 10.3 11.31997/98 16.8 10.2 10.4 9.1 9.1 6.8 10.6

Since the elimination of the PSLCE in 2000/01, the repetition rates, which were high at the end of the lower basic cycle, have significantly reduced in all regions. For example Region 4, which recorded the highest repetition rate of 20% in 1996/97, recorded a greatly reduced rate of 2% in 2000/01. At the upper basic level, the repetition rates are still, comparatively; lower, ranging from 1% to 2%. Similarly, the national level has dropped from 15% to 4% during this period. This compares very favourable with the sub-Saharan average of 20%. (PERS 2001). At the SSS level repetition is also low ranging from 1% in Region 1, 0% in Region 2, to a 14% high in Region 5. Low repetition rates indicate improved internal efficiency in the delivery system.

6.8.2. Drop-out Rates

Drop out rates also give indications of the internal efficiency of the schooling system. The education Policy is committed to achieving education for all. That is why the 1988 Education Policy was resolved to increasing enrolment at the primary level to 75% by the year 2003 and that all students enrolled at grade 1 should reach grade 6 and now grade 9.

In 1996/97 a 28% dropout rate was recorded at the end of grade 6, which was a consequence of the limited space available at the time at the upper basic level before the phasing out of the PSLC. In 2000/01 the repetition rate of 4% and a promotion rate of 82% were recorded, which implied that only 14% dropped out, which is half the 1996/97 figure. Similar to the repetition rates, there is very little variance in the dropout rates between male and female. {PERS 2001). In this area significant progress has been made in reducing the dropout rates significantly over the years to now, demonstrating achievements in internal efficiency.

6.8.3. Survival Rates

The survival rate is defined as the percentage of cohort pupils in the first grade of primary education in a given school year who eventually reach grade 5. The survival rate to grade 5 is the percentage of the cohort that completes grade 4 and reaches grade 5. This assessment mechanism helps identify the retention power of the school system and conversely indicates the magnitude of the dropout rate before grade 5.

Survival rates have been high over the policy period. For example from 1991/92 to 1998/99, survival has been on average between 84% and 91%. The survival rate of female students

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surprisingly is slightly higher than that of the male. Whiles the average survival rate of the male ranged from 88.2% in 1991 to 81.3% in 1997, for females the rates ranged from 91.4% to 80.9% over the same period. (EFA 2000 Assessment Report).

These figures however should be qualified by the fact that although survival is high, an average of only 46% could survive to grade 5 without repetition. This shows a low level of retention below 50% (EFA 2001 Assessment Report), or a high wastage level of 26% of resources on students who could not reach grade 5 for one reason or another as dropouts. Furthermore, the drop-outs from the system before completing grade 5 increased from 11.7% in 1991/92 to 26.1% in 1997/98, an average of 19.2% over the period (EFA 2000 Assessment Report). These trends defeat the efforts and remain a major challenge to providing basic education to all. It should be noted that survival rates are also higher in the urban areas such as in Region 1 with 100% survival rate than in the rural areas, say Region 6 with less than 40%. This suggest that more than 60% of those who entered school during the beginning of the Policy period 1988-2003, would have dropped out of school at some point before reaching grade 5. It further shows that while the proportion of children entering grade 1 is higher in the rural areas, the percentage reaching grade 5 is much small than those in the urban areas, indicating that schools in Banjul and environs and parents and students who are convinced of the benefits of education would tend to stay in school longer than in the rural areas where the value of education is still suspect.

6.8.4. Affordability – Education and Poverty

The issue of access to education, in particular post primary education, is related to availability of classroom space and location of schools, and the cost of fees and learning materials. Affordability is a key target in the Education Policy. In fact the basic principle for the achievement of EFA is the make education accessible through affordability. Since EFA objectives are largely targeted at the poor, it is imperative that education itself addresses the issue of poverty. In fact the Education 2004 – 2015 Policy is premised on the PRSP. Government policy recognizes that increasing access to education require cost reduction for the poor to achieve equity. Public expenditures are often made with the intention of helping the poor escape from poverty. The issue however is whether government spending is well targeted to those that need it most. Even where government targets it’s spending to the poor in the form of indirect transfers to the Household, the effectiveness of these transfers would depend on the extent to which the poor use these services. Because the rich send their children to school more and earlier than the poor and make their children stay longer in school, the rich benefit disproportionately more from government spending on education than the poorer households.

The following Table (26) shows the poverty distribution levels in the different administrative areas.

Table 26: Population Below the Poverty Line (%), 1998

Administrative Divisions Extremely Poor Poor Non-PoorBanjul 1.7 17.5 80.8KMC 6.8 11.8 81.5LRD 50.5 13.4 36.1CRD 43.3 11.7 45.0NBD 45.9 20.9 33.2URD 49.2 16.1 34.8WD 20.2 24.5 55.2

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The Gambia 29.7 17.2 53.1

In terms of the internally recognized poverty line of US$ 1 per day, data from the 1998 household survey reveals that poverty prevalence measured by the head count index was estimated 59% of the population. The poor are typically illiterate, work as groundnut farmers, live in large male-headed households, and do not have adequate access to clean water and sanitation. Several participatory poverty assessments carried out after 1998 also associated the absence of food security, powerlessness in decision-making process and limited access to assets and credit facilities and social services such as health and education as typical features of the poor. The following table (27) shows school attendance by age group, gender and poverty status.

Table 27: School Attendance by Age group, sex and poverty Status in Percentages1998

Age group Sex Extremely poor Poor Non-poor All7-12 Female

Male39.9 50.0

52.157.9

57.662.9

50.857.5

13-15 Female Male

33.345.4

37.863.6

56.670.4

45.260.6

16-18 Female Male

13.938.8

28.450.0

31.655.1

25.449.0

19+ Female Male

1.43.9

2.19.7

3.35.1

2.65.5

All Female Male

14.924.2

19.230.8

20.425.5

18.526.0

It is estimated that the richest quintile of households receive D460 per primary school age child or 29% more than those in the poorest quintile, who receive D325 (PERS 2001). This is reflected in the high share of enrolment of the fifth quintile (rich) with a household size of 4.14 and an NER of 70% in contrast to the First quintile of household size of 11.54 (poor) and a NER of 49% for the lower basic. This gap is progressively wider at the upper basic and senior secondary levels. The burden of paying for education also rests more on the poor when considered within the structure of the household expenditure. The following table (28) shows distribution of enrolment by quintile. (PERS 2001)

Table 28: Distribution of Enrolment by Quintile. – 1998 Household Survey Data

Quintiles HH size SAP SAP/HH % of SAP

NER Enr/HH Total Enr

Q1 11.54% 84,188 2,49 34% 49% 1,23 41,463Q2 9.6 64,023 1,91 26% 54% 1,03 34,523Q3 7.29 51,194 1,51 21% 59% 0,89 30,356Q4 6.14 29,073 0,86 12% 60% 0,51 17,358Q5 4.14 18,202 0,54 7% 70% 0,38 12,682All 7.72 246,680 1,46 100% 55% 0,81 136,382

Although the rich spend three times more on primary education than the poor, the burden of household expenditure is almost five times heavier on the poorest households than on the rich. The above disparities between the rich and the poor are further reflected in the

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distribution of the GER annual growth rates by region. The following Table (29) shows the distribution of the GER annual growth by region. The table shows that GER annual growth rate is higher in both Regions 1 and 2, the urban areas than in Regions 4 where it actually recorded a negative growth in 2000 and in Regions 3, 5, and 6, which did not reach the national average. These are also the poorest regions in the country, or where the bulk of the poor are located in contrast to Regions 1 and 2 where the fourth and fifth quintile (rich) is largely located.

Table 29: Distribution of GER annual growth (%) by Region, 1996 - 2000

Area 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000Region 1 3.3 1.3 5.4 5.0 1.7Region 2 6.0 10.9 5.9 5.2 3.2Region 3 6.5 3.3 4.6 0.6 1.0Region 4 8.0 5.9 2.3 -3.6 -1.6Region 5 14.4 5.2 2.9 0.3 0.4Region 6 13.0 11.3 19.8 1.5 0.9National 7.1 6.1 6.2 2.8 1.6

The implications and interpretation of these figures are that access to education would require the re-targeting of subsidies to the poor for the attainment of equitable access to education. At the SSS and post-SSS levels access is very limited as a disproportionate number of students are unable to transit to the next level of the education tier because of lack of access and/or lack of affordability. Those who could not transit to the next level drop out and join the massive pool of the unemployed or unemployable youths because they lack relevant skills or qualifications.

6.9. Conclusion: Constraints, Challenges and Recommendations

If the priorities placed on efficiency, access, equity and commitment to poverty reduction are concerns then; the re-allocation and utilization of public financial resources in the education sector would need to be revisited. This should include pro-poor strategies to increase enrolment that are targeted at the children from the lower income households for whom the private cost of education remains a barrier to attending school.

It should however be noted that achievements have been made in the areas of relevance, and some efficiency indicators such as the dropout and repetition rates have been substantially reduced whilst the survival rate remains very high.

There are however vast regional and gender disparities at all level and distribution of educational services. The reduction and final elimination of these disparities remains a major challenge and constraint to the education sector.

Quality and relevance remain primary concerns in the delivery of education at all levels. The results of the National Assessment Test and the Minimum Learning Achievement test show that learning outcomes are generally poor. In the (NAT) test some 90% of students failed to make the mark. The UBSLC examination results in 2004, which is also a transiting examination from grade 9 to 10 show very poor results overall with large failures in English and Mathematics.

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Finally access relevance and affordability will in the future be determined by the degree to which the current rate of HIV/AIDS in particular HIV 2 is controlled. Although there has been a lot of awareness creation about the risk of HIV infection and although AIDS is already inculcated in the school curriculum there is need to reinvigorate the programmes in the schools since the disease affects main women and the young according to the indicators As at 2003, there was an estimated figure of 8,000 people living in the Gambia with HIV with a rate of prevalence of 1.5% for HIV 1 and 1.0% for HIV 2 in comparison to the 1993 – 1995 period of 0.7% and 1.1% respectively, and showing and increase in HIV 2. About 52% of people reported to be living with HIV/AIDS in the country are within the age group 15 – 34. This constitute the youthful, school going, and economically and productive section of the population.

In light of the above information the following recommendations can be offered on the key issues of Relevance, quality and Affordability:

Introduce practical and employable life skills vocation and technical training programmes in all secondary and tertiary level education to ensure relevance.

Increase the percentage of qualified and specialist teachers by increasing teacher-training outputs from Gambia College, GTTI and at the University of the Gambia.

Increasing the enrolment capacities of the training institutions namely, GTTI, Gambia College and the University of the Gambia to ensure that the required manpower is provided.

Increase the proportion of female teacher participation to ensure gender equity and parity in the education system.

Reduce the regional disparities in annual GER growth rates to attain the national average for all regions.

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CHAPTER 7: REVIEW OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TECHNICAL TRAINING.

7.1. Introduction

The programmes for vocational Education and Technical Training in the Gambia are to prepare and mobilize human resources and manpower needs and for employment opportunities in the country. It further targets the strengthening of the institutional capacity and management of TVET system and to establish a sound financial basis for the long-term development and sustainability of TVET.

The government has now set up a National Training Authority (NTA) through a public /private partnership in order to respond to the need for a highly trained professional workforce and expand the provision of TVET in the country.

There are several factors that have led the government to place greater emphasis on VET and skills training. These are namely; rapid population growth which places greater demand for access to education, rural urban migration, which has led to the concentration of large number of unemployed youths in the urban area of Greater Banjul and rural unemployment.

Limited access to educational institutions creates large annual turnouts of school-leavers, most of whom would not find employment in the short-term. High dropout rates from schools, and the large number of unskilled labour force, most of who are unemployed, compound this situation.

In 1979, the government established the National Vocational Training Programme, (NVTP) charged with the responsibility to co-ordinate the activities of vocational and technical training programs in both public and private institutions. In 1979 the National Vocational Training Board (NVTPD) was establish and charged with the responsibility of developing VET in line with the manpower requirements of this country.

The NVTPD is the executive arm of the board it consist of the following units

Job classification and trade testing. Communication development, Women, Youths and Vocational Rehabilitation

The NVTPD became fully integrated with MOE in 1989 as part of the civil service reform programme. In 1992 the Board was replaced for the National Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training, which has now been changed to the National Training Authority (2003) to give it more focus and relevance.

7.2. Policies Issues Strategies and Objectives

The Educational Policy attempts to improve the effectiveness of skills training and to adequately involve the representation of concerned stakeholders. The main thrust of the policy is the strengthening of skills training through:

Improving co-ordination with employers. Increasing professional and practical training for instructors.

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Improving the provision of training equipment and materials.

Because of the limited capacities of programmes and facilities in the existing system, the Revised Draft Education Policy and Master Plan (1997) advocate the adoption of the following strategies:

Improvement access through the establishment of more vocational skills centers particular for grade 6 and 9.

Ensuring improved co-ordination of the existing institutions and training centers. Allowing for greater flexibility and adoptability of programs and possibility of

short-term programmes and mobile teams for rural out reach and distant training. Increasing monitoring and evaluation processes. Increasing emphasis to be given to the development of management and

entrepreneur-ship skills. Providing more skills for training technical and skills instructors.

Because of the lack of an organized database on vocational education and technical programme on number of institutions and enrolment levels it is difficult to establish specific trend analysis as in the cases of the Basic and Senior Secondary sub-sectors which are well covered in the EMIS. Currently there is no centralized data at the NTA on training centers and numbers enrolled and trained in these centers since their establishment except for the GTTI. The review on vocational and technical training will focus on the performance and relevance on the GITTI in particular in human resources development and as a vital institution in the education system.

The bulk of the vocational education programmes operating under the National Training Authority are concentrated around the urban and semi urban areas resulting in trained youths to stay around these areas in search of employment, which in most cases is very difficult to secure.

Apart from the rural vocational training programs and the Anglican Vocational Training Center, (AVTC) which operates under the NVTP, the majority of VET programmes in rural areas are organized and sponsored by the NGOs and most often without any prior notification to the NVTPD. The lack of effective control is largely due to the limited capacity and limited resources of the NVTPD (NTA) to monitor and coordinate the activities of the sub-sector. Presently the registration and certification of vocational training institutions for those wishing to establish is flexible with limited guidelines on standards and quality of programmes.

Recent developments in vocational education and technical training have shown a shift from the traditional training approach to emphasis the entrepreneurship and self -development. This objective is to promote self-employment prospects for graduates of VET.

The average age range of full time students attending VET programme varies between 12-25 years for full time students and 20-40 years for part-time students. Generally, the primary activities of the VET are the following:

1. Engineering 2. Carpentry3. Building4. Accounting/Commerce

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5. Typing/Short hand6. Home Economics7. Handicraft/Arts8. Tie/Dye9. Batik10. Poultry11. Computer Science 12. Teacher Education

In some institutions English and Mathematics are being offered as part of a remedial programme to adequately prepare students for their vocational studies. Except for the GTTI, most VET institutions offer fulltime programmes. The former offer full-time, part time, block and day release programmes.

7.3. The Gambia Technical Training Institute

7.3.1. Access - Achievements

The Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI) was established by an act of Parliament in 1980 to provide formal training opportunities to satisfy the middle level technical vocational manpower requirements of government, industry and commerce and the private sector. The facilities were completed in 1983 under a World Bank funded project to provide for 300 full time students. Today the enrolment level has reached the 1000 students mark. It began operations in 1983 by providing craft level courses in a variety of technical and commercial subjects through the City and Guilds of the London Institute (GGLI) and the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and Pitman qualifications respectively.

Over the past 16 years the GTTI has provided the following range and levels of programmes:

Full Course Programme – This include a variety of Technical, Commercial and Computer disciplines, including a Technical Teacher/Instructor training programme and a bridging pre-craft programme conducted at the Banjul Annex. All students enrolled in the full-time courses must complete a 6-weeks industrial attachment on completion of one year of the training programme.

Single Subject Provision – Since the clients of the GTTI vary, there are those who want tailor-made courses only for part of a programme or a single subject only. Demand for such programmes are largely limited to commercial and computer subjects.

Customized Programmes – Customized programmes lasting from one to twelve weeks duration are also provided to agencies and government departments tailored to meet their specific training needs. These programmes include skills upgrading and management and supervisory skills for local industry and government.

The six departments at the GTTI are namely,

1. Business Studies2. Computer3. Construction4. Engineering

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5. Professional Development6. Banjul Skills Training center/GTTI Annex

Over the years, enrolment figures into these programmes have increased substantially. Specialist/Technical Teacher Training is also provided as an in-service technical teacher programme coordinated by the GTTI. The Institute provides training for teachers in skill centers vocational / technical teacher and upgrading and in-service courses for the qualified teachers in secondary schools. The following table (30) shows enrolment statistic for 2001/02 and 2002/03 at the GTTI

Table 30: Enrolment Trends at the GTTI 2001/2002 to 2002/2003

Department 2001/02Full Time

2001/02Part

Time

2002/03Full Time

2002/03Part Time

Business StudiesMaleFemaleTotal M/F

210196406

---

224202426

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14ComputerMaleFemaleTotal M/F

82104186

---

85117202

---

ConstructionMaleFemaleTotal M/F

16317

180

---

16613

179

---

EngineeringMaleFemaleTotal M/F

17826

204

---

21818

236

---

Professional DevelopmentMaleFemaleTotal M/F

331

34

492271

33-

33

7021

124Banjul Skills Training /GTTI AnnexMaleFemaleTotal M/f

22655

281

---

24522

267

---

TOTAL 1291 71 1343 138

The above figures show that there has been a stead increase in enrolment. In fact the original plan of an optimum enrolment level of 800 students have been exceeded. The current enrolment level is now reaching the 1500 mark.

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7.3.2. Gender and Regional Disparities - TVET

The GTTI is the only national technical training institute and is located in Region 1 the urban center of the Greater Banjul Area. In this sense the other regions do not have easy access to this institution.

There are also vast gender disparities in the enrolment pattern. Except for Business Studies, which include Secretarial courses, the female participation level is very low in the other courses. In fact out of the total 1343 enrolled full time students in 2002/03 only 372 or only 16% were females. This shows a gross under-participation and limited access to women to Technical and vocational education at the GTTI.

7.4. Skills Centers - Post Junior Secondary Vocational Training

Since the current educational policy provides for all up to the junior secondary school those who are not in schools are suppose to be catered for in skills centers. The training envisaged for this post primary students only cover vocational skills such as rural machines blacksmithry basketry, tie and dye and batik. The normal duration of the programme is two years after primary education. This level is intended to absorb some 15%-20% of the middle school graduates. The mode of training is full time block release and day release. Part time evening courses are also available.

7.5. Conclusions: Constrains, Challenges and Recommendations

The lack of reliable statistical details on vocational education and technical training has made the planning and development of the sector difficult. There is no reliable data on the total enrolment in VET programmes or institutions nation-wide. It is however estimated that the total enrolment of students in VET is about 3,889 (1995), with the total yearly out put of 1,050 students. There are 23 technical education and vocational training centers approved by the national council for technical education and vocational training. Enrolments in VET programmes have increased substantially over the years. The current proliferation of Business and Information Technology private training centers suggest an increasing demand for VET in the relevant and employable skills being sought by the labour market.

Besides lack of adequate data and information on VET, there is also limited capacity in training institutions and programmes to produce the required level and numbers of trained and skilled manpower as illustrated in the enrolment level and outputs from these training institutions as graduates or certificated and qualified manpower in comparison to the level of manpower required by labour market demands.

There is a need to develop cost effectiveness strategies for technical and vocational manpower development based on national labour intelligence information. The high cost of technical education and vocational training would mean that Government funding will have to be supplemented through other funding such as private sector participation and partnership as strategize in the NTA programme. This may include levies on employers and parastatal bodies, users, and the introduction of cost recovery measures. Donor assistance will also be required to develop VET.

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Despite the increases in VET enrolments there are large gender and regional disparities in the provision of VET. For example at the GGTI, female enrolment constitutes 16% of total enrolment (2002/2003).

In the light of the above analysis and challenges and constraints identified, the following recommendations are put forward:

Improve the management capacity of the NTA to ensure a rational and efficient delivery of VET

Encourage private sector provision of VET through private/public sector partnerships and through tax incentives

Improve monitoring of VET training programmes and training institutions

Increase the proportion of technical teachers in the teaching force by promoting technical teacher education

Increase the enrolment capacities of the Gambia College, GTTI, and the University of the Gambia in order to increase access to tertiary education, which is paramount in the training and provision of a higher level manpower and expertise

Reduce the huge gender disparity in access to VET by promoting gender equity and female participation in skills training and tertiary level education

Target the out of school youths for skills center training in order to reduce youth unemployment

Put priority on VET at the secondary school levels by establishing training workshops in secondary schools to enable these schools to perform as secondary technical schools, including Senior Secondary Schools following the St Peters Technical Secondary School model in Lamin

De-concentrate the provision of VET from the urban areas of Regions 1 and 2 and expand it to the rural areas.

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CHAPTER 8: REVIEW OF TERTIARY LEVEL EDUCATION

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Policies, Issues Strategies and Objectives

Tertiary education is the final stage of the formal 6-3-3-2-4 education structure in the Gambia. It consists of different forms of education and professional training beyond the secondary school level. The 2004 – 2015 Education Policy, states that tertiary education will cover all post secondary programmes in the Gambia, and will in particular, include the following:

1. Technical education2. Teacher education3. University education4. Research

The major objectives of tertiary education in the Gambia are to enhance the human resource development capacity of the country in response to labour market needs, and to provide relevant sustainable and high quality tertiary education and research to support socio-economic, scientific and technological advances and development and the promotion of excellence in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. It is aimed at producing a human resource base that can provide intellectual leadership to emergence of a nation committed to democratic ideals and a country that is socially, culturally, economically and politically self-reliant.

Tertiary education is targeted to widen and deepen education gained in secondary and post secondary education, and to develop special knowledge/skills/training for gainful employment. It is also targeted to conduct research relevant to economic and social development and to make research results available for national development. The main issues in tertiary education development are mainly related to manpower demand and supply, cost benefits/cost effectiveness and feasibility of programs. Tertiary education institutions in the Gambia are therefore established on the basis of specific manpower requirements.

8.3. Colleges and Institutions

In the Gambia the tertiary institutions under the Education Services are principally The Gambia College, The Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI) The University of the Gambia. The GTTI has been examined in the last section dealing with Technical and Vocational Education. This section will review developments at the Gambia College and the University of the Gambia, which are under DOSE.

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8.3.1. University of the Gambia

8.3.1.1. Introduction

The University of the Gambia is amongst the latest if not the latest university in Africa. It is the first university in the Gambia established through innovative steps and strategies that has made it a national institution of higher learning today. The establishment of University of the Gambia did not go unchallenged. Several skeptics and critics were of the belief that the Gambia being a small and poor country with very limited human resources cannot afford to provide its citizens with university education at home, because of the high cost of university education. Some argued that it would be unsustainable since the local market for university education is very limited. Critics were also concerned with the lack of qualified academic staff in the country and the high cost of traditionally delivered forms of university education.

There were however very pressing issues and challenges that made the provision of university education in the country unavoidable. These include national educational policy impact, tertiary education challenges, growing number of Senior Secondary School graduates, and lack of Gambian graduate teachers in Senior Secondary Schools, heavy dependence on foreign teachers and the high cost of overseas university education for Gambian students.

The national educational policy is primarily directed at the development of the primary and secondary levels of the educational system. This is in line with the national educational objective of providing basic education for all and eradicating illiteracy. Consequently, tertiary education has never been given a top priority. Recently in the new Education Master Plan some attention has been placed on tertiary education although in terms of national budget allocations and donor support these represent a small percentage. In fact donor input is very small in the area of university education in the Gambia compared to direct Gambia government support to university education. This level of education delivery is not a priority to the World Bank or the Africa development Bank. Loans to established universities are very hard to find because universities do not have immediate commercial or profit returns especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sustainability therefore is seen as a permanent problem in such ventures.

Without a university and with only few tertiary institutions, the Gambia was faced with increasingly prohibitive cost of university education oversea and growing political instability in the sub-region, leading to the closure of many of these universities or frequent suspension of courses due to unrest and where the majority of Gambian students were sent to study. These were particularly felt in Senegal, University of Chiek Anta Diop, University of Sierra Leone, Njala University College of Sierra Leone, and University of Liberia and in some of the Universities in Nigeria. These led to very low completion rates and increasing frustration amongst students and parents. This was also at a time when Commonwealth scholarships for undergraduate studies were being phased out.

In 1992 The Commonwealth Secretariat Report, commonly referred to as the Williams Report and prepared by the late Peter Williams of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Professor Donald Ekong current vice-chancellor of the UTG and others, argued that a university institution was justified in the Gambia “ in terms both of the pool of qualified Gambia students seeking higher education places and of the country’s future skill requirements”. The Report further confirmed that a firm foundation exist from which the proposed University of

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the Gambia can be developed based on contextual analysis of the economy and demography of the Gambia together with the evaluation of existing tertiary education at the Gambia College, GTTI, and the MDI. The Report concluded that a university of approximately 1200 students in full operation can be sustained from internal demand alone and will grow to approximately 2000 students by the year 2008.

Today the secondary level school system has been sufficiently developed to produce approximately 300 students per annum who are qualified to proceed to tertiary level education. Projections from 1990/91 indicated that an increase in Senior Secondary students’ enrolments amounted to a participation rate increase of 83% by 1997/98. A further extrapolation to the year 2003 shows a potential growth in the region of 450 students. This figure was further compounded by the backlog of eligible students awaiting space for university education. It is estimated that some 800 Gambians were being funded to study in universities abroad and majority of who were in Africa and the Middle East.

These issues of growing demand for university education, the inhibitive costs of university education abroad, the ending of scholarships for undergraduate studies in Commonwealth universities, chronic political instability in the African countries where Gambians were studying, and the resultant low completion rates of degree programmes compelled the Government of the Gambia to embarked on the development of a university programme for students within the country.

The advantages of establishing a university were obvious. It will be more responsive to the social, economic and manpower requirements of the country. Further more the high cost of maintaining students overseas under conditions of unpredictable foreign exchange rates will be much reduced and translated into the provision of university education to a wider circle of eligible persons.

The University is expected to offer courses to match economic, social and technological needs of the country. This means that it will have to develop courses where these do not exist. For example the University is mandated to run course in Hotel and Tourism Management to meet the needs of the growing tourist industry in the country. All the courses are aimed at producing graduates with the skills and knowledge required to contribute to the development of the country. In other words the University will be responsive to the economic and social needs of the Gambia. The programs offered will continue to provide for maximum flexibility in terms of entry-exist points and delivery system. The entry requirement is the Senior Secondary School Certificate (WASSCE).

The academic and administrative infrastructure consists of The Council at the apex and the Senate over sighting the academic programmes under the various faculties and faculty boards.

The UTG first started in the form of an extension programme of the SMU Halifax until 1999 when the extension programme was phased out and the UTG established by an Act of Parliament.

Between 1995 and 1998, the SMU/UEP conducted 91 courses led by 35 professors for a student body that commenced with 80 and grew up to 250.

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8.3.1.2. Policy Issues Strategies and Objectives

In March 1999 an act established the University and provides for its powers, aims, objectives and guiding principles. It also spells out the governance and academic structures. Draft byelaws for the functioning of the organs of the University are also provided in details with regulations within the framework of the Act. The ITF recommended the establishment of a Higher Education Observatory, which was to be established by a separate legislation.

The University of the Gambia Act provided for the judicial basis for the University. Section (3) of the Act establishes the University and confers it with all the attributes of a legal personality including the power to sue and be sued in its name. In providing for the aims of the University, care was taken to capture the underlying principles of establishing the University that would not only cater for the academic needs of the people of the Gambia but also contribute to the social and economic development of the nation. Several provisions in the Act address the governance and academic structures of the University, and section (6) in particular provides for the constitution of the University as follows:

The Chancellor The Council The Vice Chancellor The Senate The Academic and Administrative Staff Students of the University

The governance hierarchy of the University conforms to those in use in Commonwealth Countries. Section (7) of the Act provides for a Chancellor who is the titular head of the University and has only ceremonial functions. The section also provides that the President of the Republic shall be the Chancellor of the University. Sections (9 and 10) provides for the University Council and the Senate, the Council being the governing and policy-making body of the University, whilst reserving mainly academic matters to the Senate. Section (11) provides for the office of the Vice-Chancellor who is the Chief Executive Officer of the University and has overall responsibility for the implementation of the policies of the Council.

The Act provides for the establishment of faculties, departments and other appropriate institutions for the University. It also provides for the appointment of academic and administrative staff, and the creation of a students union.

Under the directives of the first University Council, the development and operationalization of the academic programs and administrative infrastructure were put in place by the first Vice-Chancellor, Professor Donald Ekong, who was first recruited through the CFTC and later through the Nigeria TAC programme. The academic programme at the UTG consist of the following:

1. Faculty of Science and Agriculture2. Faculty of Medicine and Allied health Sciences3. Faculty of Humanities and Social sciences4. Faculty of Economics and Management

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In 2004 the first students of the University of the Gambia graduated in the various disciplines from the different faculties. It is estimated that the University can operate to a full capacity with 2000 students by the year 2008. At the current rate of enrolment this target will be reached by the year 2006.

8.3.1.3 Access – Achievements and Gender Disparities

In November 1995 the Department of State for Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Canadian partners the SMU and the NSGA providing Gambian students for the first time with access to university education in their own country. In the Agreement, the Canadian partners agreed to deliver university education in the Gambia under the following conditions:

Coordination, management and delivery of the academic program and services to students in a timely and efficient manner and provide the Gambia Government with semi-annual narrative reports and annual audited financial reports on the programme.

Delivery of minimum of at least 17 credit courses and the requisite textbooks, including the appropriate range of introductory and intermediate level courses leading to the following degrees:

Bachelor of Arts with opportunities to major in Economics, English, Geography, History, International Development Studies or Mathematics.

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies

Bachelor of Science (General), with opportunities for a concentration in Mathematics or Physics and the provision of individual courses or programs in Biology, chemistry, Geology, and Astronomy commensurate with the availability of appropriate science laboratories.

Admit sufficient qualified new students to maintain a minimum ongoing base (250) of students in the program until new students are admitted officially to the University of the Gambia and/ or current students are integrated into the new university.

Make provision for additional qualified private or fee-paying students in programs and collect the appropriate tuition fees from those students who enroll in the academic program

Provide admission, registration, record keeping, academic counseling and other services on site to students in the Gambia, as well as the considerable support of the university infrastructure in Canada, with respect to students’ records, academic audits, the conferring of degrees, the provision of academic transcripts and other services generally available to SMU students and graduates.

In the interest of capacity building and human resources development, the Canadian partners in cooperation with DOSE will:

Identify recruit and employ Gambian academics to work as lecturers (Adjunct or part time Professors) and Teaching Assistants in the Program, with a view to

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having a significant proportion of the courses delivered by Gambian nationals or residents

Identify and recruit two of the above Gambian academics to be trained and employed as counterparts in Program Coordination, Students Services in the SMU program in the Gambia

Provide to cooperating Gambian tertiary institutions appropriate financial and in-kind compensation for the use of facilities, equipment and personnel.

In return the Gambian Government will:

Provide the sum of D2, 200, 000 (two million and two hundred thousand Dalasis) annually to cover tuition fees, lecturers salaries travel cost from Canada and other expenses of the Program

Provide furnished housing for expatriate Professors and Teaching Assistants free of rental and utilities charges

Meet the cost of Convocation for the first SMU/UEP graduation ceremony in the Gambia

Meet with the Canadian Partners before the end of 1998 to review and evaluate the Program, and to finalize the transition process to the new University of the Gambia and to make necessary adjustments to the Program including financial arrangements.

There were two motives, which had impelled the Canadian partners, SMU and NSGA to participate in delivery of a high quality UEP in the Gambia. For the NSGA and SMU there was the desire to assist in the historic development of university education in a country, which up to that point, had to send its citizens abroad for university studies. In this respect, the Canadian partners were inspired by the courage of the Transition Government, and its Head of State Colonial Yahya A JJ Jammeh and by the then Secretary of State for Education, Mrs. Satang Jow former Principal of Gambia High School to move ahead with a transition program designed to provide immediate redress to the problem of providing university education, while taking time to develop a long term more permanent solution, in the form of a University of the Gambia.

The second motive for SMU was to use the UEP in the Gambia as a means of internationalizing its academic and administrative staff. The Canadian Federal Government in March 1998 recognized the achievement of this role, when the Canadian Prime Minister the Right Honourable John Chretien presented SMU with the Scotiabank Award for Excellence in Internationalization “in recognition of outstanding achievement as demonstrated by the UEP in the Gambia”. All the partners involved in this innovative venture knew that it would be difficult and challenging as well as rewarding. The difficulties and challenges have been considerable, and in some cases are ongoing and still to be overcome. The rewards however are manifested in the considerable success of the academic program, which rest with two groups, namely the Professors and their teaching assistants and the students. The former has inspired the students with their professionalism, the quality of their classroom presentations, and their dedication to teaching. The students have in turn inspired the professors with their

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enthusiasm, their hard work, high-class attendance and their motivation to learn. In this context the UEP was successful academically and cost-effective. There were problems, which have to be solved, and lessons learnt, which have to be heeded if the University of the Gambia wants to succeed.

Since the launching of the SMU/UEP in November 1995 to May 1998, 91 courses were delivered by 38 professors to a student body, which had grown from 81 to 250. The students had performed well during this period maintaining a 2.81 Quality Point Average (equivalent to “B” grade). The majority of the students were on government scholarships of which female students constituted only 12%. Canadian professors have expressed a high regard for their students in the Gambia, in respect to skills and ability as well as motivation and hard work. They felt that the Gambia students compare favorably with their Canadian counter-parts at the same levels.

In February 1999, 76 students graduated from the program in a convocation ceremony of the SMU conducted in the Gambia. Out of this number more than 30 were schoolteachers. This was to contribute in reducing the dependence on foreign teachers in secondary schools.

The degrees offered were namely bachelors in Arts or Science and majors in Economics, Mathematics English, Development Studies, Geography or History. Qualified Gambians were accorded Adjunct Professor status at SMU enabling them to teach in the UEP. Some 22% of the courses were delivered by resident Gambian academics. The following is a summary of course delivered by the UEP from 1995 – 1999.

Summary of Courses Delivered by the UEP 1995-1999Total number of courses delivered 128

Total number of credits delivered 127

Number of Credits required with a Major or Double major

Bachelor of Arts 15 to 20 Bachelor of Science 15 to 20 Bachelor of Environmental Science 20

To achieve a Major in a particular discipline, between six and eight credits are normally required. All graduating students are expected to achieve a major in one or more subjects.

It had been a difficult task to maintain a coherent, well-integrated package of courses to provide depth and diversity to an extremely small number of students (especially in the first year of the Program when the number was less than 90). This task was rendered more difficult by the serious financial constraints within which the program had to operate, namely the limited subvention from the government and the allocation of this subvention on a tightly monthly basis.

The following is a Summary of the Profile of the Students Graduates of the UEP.

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Profile of Students Graduates

Males 67 Females 9 Total 75

No; of Junior Secondary and Senior Secondary school Teachers

Bachelor of Arts degrees 72 Bachelor of Science degrees 4 Single Subject Majors 64 Double Majors 12

The following give details of the Majors and Subject Concentrations

Major/ Subject Concentrations

Economics 35 International Development Studies 24 Mathematics 14 Geography 5 History 6 English 4

Total (including double majors) 88

Thirty-four Canadians totaling 71 credit courses largely taught the courses in the UEP. They include the following:

26 with Ph.D. 22 with more than 20 years of university teaching experience 14 with previous teaching experience in Africa 2 former university academic Vice-chancellors 3 current or former deans more than a dozen current or former Chairs of

Departments 1 Rhodes Scholar

Twenty qualified Gambians and other West African residents were employed by SMU to teach courses in the UEP as professors and adjunct professors. This was aimed at building capacity through the identification and development of academic staff for the new University of the Gambia. It was also intended to reduce the expenses associated with bringing in professors from Canada or elsewhere. However employing Gambians to teach in the UEP required the same rigorous process as one goes through at SMU. A Gambian who was employed became a staff of SMU and was thereby eligible to teach courses in Canada as well as in the Gambia

Through bilateral relations between the Republic of the Gambia and the Republic of Cuba, a pre-Medical program was commenced with 25 students in September 1999. Today there is a Medical faculty largely staffed by Cuban University lecturers and professors from West

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Africa who are funded by the Commonwealth Secretariat or are on the Nigerian TA program. These academic staffs are mainly from Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Some Gambia medical practitioners are also employed as adjunct lecturers in the Medical School. Recently in November 2000 the Royal Victoria Hospital in Banjul was been designated a University Teaching Hospital. The first graduates from the Medical school will come out in year 2005.

Four Facilities have been established since the commencement of the degree program. These are namely:

1. Faculty of Science and Agriculture with courses in Agriculture, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics/Statistics, and Physics

2. Faculty of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences with a Bachelors of Medicine/Bachelors of Surgery (MB/CH.B) program and Bachelors degree programs in Nursing and Public Health

3. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences with courses in Development Studies, English French, Geography, History, Political Science,

4. Faculty of Economic and Management Science with courses in Information Systems, Management, Economics, Finance, Marketing and human Resource

It is estimated that the University can operate at a full capacity with 2000 students by the year 2008. At the current rate of student enrolment this target will be achieved by the year 2006.

As the University develops more features will be added in its form and consequently its mission structures and programs may be redefined to meet the current and future challenges of university education in the Gambia. Since its inception the UTG has taken several innovative steps towards its future development. The following table (31) shows Enrolment of students by faculty and Gender at the UTG.

The table shows that significant growth has been achieved in enrolment since the opening of the University although the numbers have fluctuated between growth and decline over the years. Enrolment has increased from a total of 118 students per annum in 1999/2000, the year of commencement of the University to 311 students per annum, and a cumulative increase of 164% in student enrolment to 2003/2004 or 34.2% per annum, over the four years period. This sends a strong signal that there is a growing demand for higher education in the country, in particular, university education.

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Table 31: Trends in Enrolment by Faculty/Programme at UTG 1999/2000 to 2003/2004 (Source: UTG)

Faculty/Programme

1999/2000 2000/2001 2001/2002 2002/2003 2003/2004

Humanities and SocialSciences

M68

F19

Total87

M64

F17

Total81

M35

F15

Total50

M89

F29

Total118

M64

F12

Total76

Medicine and Allied Sciences

18 4 22 25 4 29 36 4 40 30 15 45 44 19 63

Economic and Management Sciences

32 5 37 37 8 45 34 4 38 55 19 74 40 11 51

Science and Agriculture

36 4 40 50 4 54 34 12 46 71 23 94 50 15 65

B.Ed - - - - - - - 39 3 42 63 9 72

B.Ed Graduants _2004

53 1 54

Total Annual Enrolment

118 32 186 142 33 182 139 24 174 284 68 373 224 96 311

The students general distribution over the faculties is fairly even now. In the 2003/2004 Humanities constitute the highest, approximately, 24%, B.Ed 23%, Science and Agriculture 21%, Medicine and Allied Sciences 19% and Economic s and Management Science 13%. But similar to all education service indicators, the gender disparity is very large in all faculties and over the years has remained so with declining trends in the percentage of female enrolment. In 1999/2000 the percentage of female enrolment was only 16% of total enrolment whiles male constituted 84%. In 2000/2001, the percentage of female enrolment increased by 1% to 17%, but declined to 13% in 2001/2002. In 2002/2003 it increased to 18% but declined by 7% to 11% in 2003/2004.

8.3.1.4 Quality and Relevance of University Education

Since the primary objective of the university is to contribute to the human resources development of the country by imparting appropriate knowledge and skills, the following degree programs were offered at the commencement of the UTG.

Health and Applied Sciences including Medicine, Public and Environmental Health, and Nursing

Agriculture and Natural resources Economics and Management Sciences Humanities and Social Sciences, including Education.

A cautious and incremental approach has been adopted to develop these programs. The initial focus is to utilize the physical facilities of classrooms and laboratories in existing tertiary institution, namely, GC, GTTI, MDI to offer degree level programmes. This innovative step was necessary because of the lack of resources and political will to integrate these institutions into the University of the Gambia. Thus the University of the Gambia has no main campus as is common with traditional universities, or student halls of residence, and no lecture theaters. Its students commute from one tertiary institution campus to another, covering an area of some 50 square kilometers. The President of the Country to ease their movement from one lecture venue to

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another has provided the students with a commuter bus. A central library has being developed with computer and Internet facilities. Already a common computer room exists at the Administrative building of the University where students can access information through the Internet. In this regard the UTG put priority on the use of the Internet in the service of university education. This character ad feature of the University are indeed responsible for its unique position in the Region and are also responsible for making it cost effective under very severe financial constraints. In September 1999 a validation study by South Bank University, London resulted in the commencement of a 2-year High National Diploma (HND) program in Construction Management at the GTTI under a franchise from that University.

The following table (32) is a summary of the list of graduands that were awarded degrees by the University of the Gambia and UEP graduands for the cohort from 2001 to 2003 whose credits were transferred to the UTG, at its first Graduation Vocation ceremony held on the 6th of March 2004.

On January 10th and 11th the University invited Dr. Kenneth Esmond of Saint Mary’s University to conduct a seminar on Strategic Planning for staff ad students of the University. On January 12th 2002 the University of the Gambia organized a Public Forum o the subject “The University of the Gambia – which Directions”. The Forum was the first step to develop a strategic plan for the UTG. High-powered representatives attended it from a wide spectrum of public and private sector organizations, internal and external stakeholders of the University including government representatives, faculty staff, parents, students, NGOs and Civil society at large.

The principal objective of the Forum held in January 2002 was to offer the stakeholders the unique opportunity to recommend direction and focus for the new University of the Gambia, so that it develops into a relevant institution fully responsive to the development needs and challenges of the Gambian nation.

Table 32: Summary of Graduates for the Various Faculties, March 2004

Faculty Number of

Graduands

Humanities and Social Sciences (B.A) 14

Medicine and Allied Sciences (B. Sc) 6

Economics and Management (B. Sc) 2

Science and Agriculture (B. Sc) 2

B.Ed 26

UEP 48

TOTAL 152

(Source: University of the Gambia)

The SOS invited the Forum participants to give special attention to eight major program areas of concern, namely;

The issue of relevance of programs and courses and quality control

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The development and shared perspectives on the mission, vision, objectives, culture and direction of this young institution

The provision of high quality programmes for the development of the human resources of the country by equipping students with technical, managerial, and professional skills

Ways and means of resource mobilizing to supplement government contributions

Focus on cost-effectiveness strategies and policies to ensure maximum impact of the meager resources available through the judicious use of limited financial and manpower resources

Increase investment in staff development to reduce the heavy dependence on short term expatriates

Ways and means of aggressively marketing the programs of the University should be pro-active and dynamic to ensure greater visibility and to be better known by ordinary citizens.

Way and means of developing links between the University and private sector agencies to facilitate access to other sources of funds such as consultancy studies, research and endowments

Other major issues of concern considered by the Forum were namely:

The advantages of developing strategic alliances between the UTG and reputable institutions abroad to ensure the delivery of high quality courses

Developing a high quality university education program in Information Technology and in Hospitality Management and Tourism amongst others given the comparative successes and available infrastructure of theses two industrial sectors

A highly developed human capital resource would facilitate private sector development and thus generate employment.

The strategic plan should therefore be dynamic and responsive to the changing environment. Stakeholders and the University to ensure that both parties have full ownership for the process and outcomes of the exercise should provide the inputs for the strategic planning exercise.

The Forum recommended that the University should evolve an appropriate governing structure that promotes autonomy, accountability, transparency and the required university culture. There was also an urgent need to develop strategies to mobilize funds from the private sector. Staff development was to be given priority to reduce the heavy dependence on expatriates and to enhance sustainability. Focus and priority should be placed o the provision of student support services such as the provision of books, equipment, counseling and career guidance, and transport. The student representatives also recommended the development of physical facilities and infrastructure with lecture rooms and accommodation in particular to the Forum. The forum recommended a return to the original idea of the ITF for the

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examination of integration and linkages among local training institutions such as the MDI, Gambia College, GTMI, MDI and the Hotel Training School. The Forum also recommended that the university should increase the marketing of its programs and courses through publications and mass-media campaigns.

The University should also develop an appropriate institutional culture with a vision and objective strategies. It should have strategies and program for promotion of quality ad relevance through course accreditation, strategic alliances and increased utilization of local talent and expertise for part time lecturing. The University should also increase its provision of management and consultancy services to local communities and private and public sector agencies to augment the resources of the University and to secure foreign exchange. Courses are to be developed by the university that are durably related to the needs of the private sector and job market, in particular Information Technology and Tourism Development courses.

On the 25th of January 2002 an informal working session was organized by the University with representative of government, academic staff and key private sector personalities to discuss issues related to the objectives of the University. On the 30 th of January 2002, The University organized a one-day workshop at the GTMI for the students and staff of the University as part of the continuing deliberations on the Strategic Plan for the University. This meeting re-examined the Mission Statement of the University with the view to making it more focused to the objectives and to conduct a strengthens, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT Analysis) of the University with a view to identify the areas in which the University has comparative and competitive advantage, to define the mission of the University, the objectives that flow from this mission, and how these objectives could be advanced from the 19th to the 21st of July, 2002, the University academic and administrative staff and student representatives led by the VC went on a retreat for the Strategic Planning Exercise at Sindola, Kanilai, the place of birth of the President of the Republic and Chancellor of the University. The resource persons for this retreat were Dr. Muhammodou Kah of Rutgers University, Mrs Muhammadou Kah of Rutgers University, and Mr. Bye Ndondi S.Z. Njie a prominent Gambia intellectual and former head of Gambia College and a representative of the Gambia in many forums on higher education. In his address to this gathering the Vice-Chancellor Donald Ekong reminded the participants that the objective of the exercise “was to come-out with our own views on what the Strategic Plan should contain and to agree on what the University of the Gambia is all about…Through this process we can chart and plan for the future of the University of the Gambia”.

The Kanilia meeting attempted to redefine the Mission Statement of the University, which was stated originally as follows:

“The University of the Gambia will provide relevant, sustainable, and high quality tertiary education and research in respect of socio-economic, scientific and technological advance and development. It will be a center of excellence, which will accommodate national, regional and international requirements. The University will utilize the concept of incremental improvement to maintain high standards thereby empowering students with the opportunity to fulfill national needs and to provide students with the facility to realize their full potential both personally and in employment.”

The participants at the Retreat recommended that the second part of the Mission statement be amended to read as follows:

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“The University will strive to improve and maintain high standards thereby empowering students with the opportunity to fulfill national needs and to provide students with the facility to realize their full potential.”

In essence the Mission Statement contains the elements of relevance, sustainability, high quality and utilization.

The SWOT Analysis that was conducted during the Kanilai Retreat revealed the following strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the University. It was realized that some of the factors identified as strength may also qualify as a weakness or in deed an opportunity.

The SWOT analysis conducted by focused groups at the Retreat showed the strengths ad weaknesses of the University of the Gambia .The key concerns, considerations and recommendations from all these planning exercises are to be utilized by the University management as inputs in the Strategic Plan. Currently the University has tendered out the consultancy to Huddersfield University in the UK for the formulation of a Strategic and Corporate Plan for the University of the Gambia. In December 2003 a validation of course exercise with external validators took place in almost all the faculty programmes as part of the University Quality Assurance Policy and Strategy

8.4 Gambia College

8.4.1 Introduction

As a middle level training institution, the basic entry requirement is five GCE “ O” levels credits or four credits WASSE including English for the senior programmes.

The priority areas of focus of the GC are namely:

The Pre-Service teacher Training Programme

The In-Service Teacher Training Programme

The Curriculum Research, Development and Evaluation Programme

The objectives of the Pre-Service Teacher Training Programmes are namely, to provide sufficient numbers for the expansion of the Basic education cycle; to reduce the number of unqualified teachers in the school system and to replace them with qualified teachers; and finally to increase the percentage of female teachers in training from 30% to 40% by the end of the policy period 2003.

The key strategies to achieve the above were mainly through the introduction of Distance Education and the design of instruments for the supervision and assessment of school based experience in lower and Upper Basic Schools and to build capacity of Gambia College staff to operate, coordinate and evaluate the system, the Remedial Initiative for Female Teachers (RIFT) Programme, and train teachers on guidance and counseling.

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8.4.2 Policy Issues Strategies and Objectives

The Vision of the Gambia College is to develop the College to a recognized institution of higher education of the level of a University College of the Gambia involved with training and research that will contribute to the development of middle-level capacity for poverty alleviation and socio-economic development. The Mission Statement indicates that the College is committed to:

Provide trained and skilled middle level personnel in the areas of Health, Education and Agriculture;

Conduct research and develop curricula necessary for quality education

Introduce innovative ideas and approaches with a view to creating an enabling environment for continuous professional development

Support the policy of Education for All (EFA) with specific reference to gender equity for the social and economic development of the nation

8.4.3 Access – Achievements:

Since its inception the Gambia College has been expanding access in all its various schools. The following table (33) shows levels of enrolment in the various schools in male and female categories. Majority of the students are enrolled in the School of Education. This is a reflection of the priority placed on teacher training as targeted in the policy objectives. The gender disparities in enrolment levels between male and female in all the constituent schools of the College are huge especially in HTC and Agriculture programmes, although in the SRN and SCM programmes the gender disparities have been greatly reduced.

The low enrolment capacity of the Gambia College is a major constraint in the provision of large volumes of trained teachers, nurses, agriculturalist and public health officers as required by the respective sectors in terms of human resources needs. It is therefore inevitable that the capacity of the College in terms of enrolment levels for the various schools would have to be increased substantially if the required number of trained personnel are to achieved in order to supply these Medical, Agricultural, Health and Education services

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Table 33: Enrolment Tends at the Gambia College – 1999 – 2004

School 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004Public Health

HNDMaleFemale

214

246

317

Nursing and Midwifery

SRNMaleFemale

SCMMale Female

2317

2617

145

2312

1518

1013

1719

1920

Agriculture

HDAMaleFemale

CGAMaleFemale

Live ScienceMaleFemale

NYSSMaleFemale

191

406

200

91

6

91

61

63

Education

HTCMaleFemale

PTCMaleFemale

26054

155106

2504

171

24455

8531

25682

176158

17136

15843

Total

The following table (34) gives the Teacher requirement and Training at the Gambia College for Primary Teachers Certificate and for the Higher Teachers Certificate.

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The total enrolled in Teacher training at the Gambia College is 600 (2004). The total output; that is those who went through the training programme, is approximately 250 trained teachers from the School of Education. Although this output is an increase, the rate and number would have to be substantially increased especially if gender and regional disparities in qualified teachers supply are to be adequately met. It was estimated that during the policy period 1988 – 2003, 3,000 additional trained teachers were required for the lower basic level and 1,500 trained teachers were required for the secondary schools.

Table 34: Teacher requirement and Training at the Gambia College for Primary Teachers Certificate and for the Higher Teachers Certificate – Gambia College 2004

PTC 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007New Intakes(first years)

231 241 374 403 425 471 482

Attachment(first year) 231 241 374 403 425 471 482Attachment (second year)

231 241 374 403 425 471 482

Total on Attachment 0 231 472 615 777 828 896 953

Total on Campus231 241 374 403 425 471 482

HTC 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007New Intakes (first year) 299 333 332 338 353 353 353Second Year 299 333 332 338 353 353 353Attachment in Schools 299 333 332 338 353 353 353Total Campus 299 632 665 670 691 706 706 353 0

As the figures in the various tables on teacher supply show, a substantial increased has been achieved at the basic education level but there are vast regional disparities. Whiles the percentage of qualified teachers at the lower basic level in Region 1 is 74%, the national average is 57%, leaving some substantial 43% who require training. At the upper basic level, 86% of the teachers are qualified. At both levels the percentage of female teachers are small, 26% and 15% respectively and most of the qualified female teachers are posted in Regions 1 and 2 as most of them for marital or other reasons are reluctant to teach in the remote rural areas. Consequently the supply of qualified teachers is disproportionate in favour of urban area of the Greater Banjul Area consisting Regions 1 and 2. At the senior secondary level Gambian teachers constitute only 25% of the teaching force. Whiles 99% of the teachers are qualified, most of these are foreign teachers from the sub-region who are fleeing from political instability in their countries or economic hardship. It is likely that these teachers will return to their countries when conditions are better. Female teachers constitute only 12% of the stock at this level. These indicators show that a real concerted effort is needed to increase the stock level of teacher supply especially at the senior secondary level and in deed at all levels to address the acute gender and regional disparities in the supply of qualified teachers. The current level of 250 graduates per annum from the teachers training programme will take 20 years to produce 5000 trained teachers at the current rate of teacher training students output at the Gambia College and indeed at the GTTI and the University of the Gambia. In other words the training capacities of the tertiary institutions in terms of available space and resources to increase student enrolment is limited. Thus the introduction of Distance Learning in teacher education at the Gambia College and at the University of the Gambia are seen as innovative moves and approaches that address the key issue of access to tertiary education.

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This sub-sector in the education system is however is largely handicapped by the limited funds allocated to tertiary education.

8.5 Conclusion: Constraints Challenges and Recommendations

As indicated in this chapter, significant strides have been made in the provision of tertiary level education in this Country. The establishment of the University of the Gambia was not only a giant step forward in the development of tertiary level education but also an innovative step in that the University was established without a main campus and functions by using existing facilities and structures in other tertiary institutions. With the addition of the UTG into the education system, the number of students that now enroll in tertiary institutions have increased. In deed one may postulate that university education is beginning to have a demand effect on tertiary level education.

Despite increases in the provision of tertiary level education and increases in enrolment, the capacities of these institutions are still limited both in terms of facilities and programmes. Consequently the opportunities for expansion in these training institutions to increase student intakes are very limited.

The concentration of programmes in employable areas such as teacher training, medicine, nursing, agriculture, public health, science, humanities and social sciences, economics and management, business studies, engineering and construction, public health, computer Science in the tertiary institutions demonstrate relevance to the manpower training needs and demands of this Country.

Tertiary level education however is faced with many constraints and challenges. These include the limited nature of public funding for tertiary level education compared to the other levels of education; limited institutional management capacity of training institutions; high degree of dependence on expatriate staff and over-concentration in the Urban areas of Region 1 and Region 2.

In view of the above information, the following recommendations are made address some of these constraints and challenges:

Increase the capacity of tertiary institutions to enable them to increase their enrolment capacity and access to tertiary education

Create meaningful links between tertiary/training institutions to promote institutional capacity building and programme support amongst themselves

Increase the funding levels of tertiary institutions commensurable to expected outputs from these institutions and based on manpower demands and projections

Develop and promote the use of Information and Communications Technologies in the service of education and distance learning

Promote staff training and professional development for staff in tertiary institutions

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Promote resource mobilization by tertiary institutions to support their budgets and ensure sustainability

Make tertiary education affordable to all Gambians

Establish evaluation and monitoring mechanisms for the delivery of quality and relevant tertiary education

Reduce the gender disparity in the enrolment of students in tertiary institutions through the promotion of female participation and by increasing the retention of girls at the secondary education level to ensure completion and opportunity to transit to the next level, namely the tertiary level.

Decentralize tertiary level education by establishing some centers away from the urban areas and by promoting and encouraging extension programmes by the existing institutions and through out-reach programmes.

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CHAPTER 9: FINANCING THE EDUCATION SECTOR

9.1 Introduction

9.2. Policy Issues Strategies and Objectives

The new Education Policy 2004 – 2015 is premised on both the national Vision 2020 and the PRSP with the aim of improving the human capital of the country by reducing the number of people living below the poverty line. This however will depend on the extent to which government financial resources are directed at the Education sector. From the 1990s to the early twenty-first century, total government expenditure reflects an increase in public expenditure to education. In fact the financing of the education sector is almost entirely the responsibility of the Government. Public expenditure in education is contained in two separate but complementary budget categories, namely the Recurrent Budget and the Development Budget. The former is entirely funded by the Government whiles the latter is funded largely from donor financial support in the form of loans and grants which varies greatly from year to year depending on specific allocations for each cycle of execution of individual projects. These are largely in the form of loans. The two combined constitute the total spending on education. The share of education, out of total government spending (excluding debt servicing) increased from 24% in 1998 to 25% in 2001 and represented about 16% of recurrent expenditure and had increased from 3.2% of GDP to 4.1% of GDP in 1999, 6.3% in 2000 and further to 6.8% in 2001. (PERS 2001), but this however compares unfavourably to an average of 20% for Sub-Saharan Africa.

9.3. Recurrent and Development Expenditure

Between 1998 to 2000 total government recurrent expenditure increased from D120 million to D168 million (in current prices), an increase of 39% and 19% in real terms ( PERS 2001). The 2001 recurrent expenditure of D184 million represented an increase of 50% (in current prices) from 1998 to 2001. Added to this are the schools fees generated by the upper basic and grant aided schools to supplement their income. This constitutes a meager sum of some D6 million which is retained by the schools administrations. (PERs 2001). The total Recurrent Budget for the year 2004 is estimated at D1, 206, 783, 000 (excluding debt servicing). The total Development Expenditure for the same year is estimated at D1, 638, 192, 000. The overall Public Expenditure Budget is estimated at D2,844,975,000.

The total recurrent expenditure on education of DOSE is estimated at D224, 276,000 and the development expenditure allocation is estimated at D293, 529 000, for the year 2004. This gives a total D517, 805, 000, or 18.2% of total public recurrent and development expenditure, the highest allocation amongst all the public sector services and a confirmation of governments commitment to the expansion and development of education in the country.

The following table (35) is a summary of the percentage distributions /allocation of the DOSE Budget according to Education services.

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Table 35: Percentage Distribution of DOSE Budget by Education Services - 2004

Education Service % SharePre-primary and Primary education 16.6Tertiary education 12.27Education services (not defined by level) 28.27Subsidiary Education services 0.06Education services NEC 43.2

(Source: Estimates of Recurrent and Development Expenditure and Revenue GOTG 2004)

The DOSE allocates the shares of expenditures to the different levels and programmes of education based on policy priorities. The bulk of the share is devoted to Basic Education. The following table (36) shows the summary of allocations of the recurrent budget according to programmes and sub-sectors.

Table 36: Summary of Allocation of DOSE Recurrent Budget by Sub-sectors and Programmes - 2004

Programme/Sub-sector Total amount (Dalasis) Percentage shareManagement D 14, 794, 104 6.5Directorate of Basic Education 141, 653,580 63Senior and Tertiary Education 57, 896, 055 25.5Stand and Quality Control 3, 268, 000 1.5Skills Centers 676, 340 0.6Adult Education 142, 500 0.4Education services 5, 845, 000 2.5Total D 224, 275, 669 100

The share of Basic education increased fro 57% in 1998 to 63% in 2004. The increases in spending were due to the accelerated expansion at the Basic education level, in particular, at the Upper basic level, which enabled the sector to achieve the growth targets set for each level of the education except for ANFED and TVET. Expenditure on Basic education increased at an annual average rate of 11% between 1998 and 2004. This also reflected the rapid increases in enrolment during this period. The share of Senior Secondary School actually declined from 14.5% in 1998 to 11% in 2001 declining by 2.3% per annum over the period.

Spending on the category of “quality” in the form of in-service and pre-service teacher training at Gambia College increased 7% per year over the period 1998 to 2001.

The development expenditure on education is largely resourced from donor funding in the form of grants and loans. Government counter-part fund is approximately around 10% (or less) of total development budget. This limited government contribution to development budget spending reflects a heavy reliance on external support for the development of the sector and indeed shows some of the constraints of the sector, since funding from theses sources are not always readily available and are tied to conditionalities and to the donors priority areas of intervention. The following table (37) shows donor financing of the Education Investment Programme for the year 2004.

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Table 37: Summary of Donor Funding to the Education Investment Programme, 2004

Donor Programme AmountGRANTSArab Bank for the Economic Development of Africa. ( BADEA)

Third Education Sector Programme (TESP)

D39, 970, 000

European Development Fund (EDF)

Third Education Sector Programme (TESP)

D23, 340, 000

UNICEF Basic Education–Girls (TESP) D400, 000LOANSInternational Development Agency (IDA)

Third Education Sector Programme (TESP)

Basic EducationGirls EducationSkills ProjectUniversity (TESP)Policy Planning and Budgeting (TESP)

D 47,141,634D3, 500,000

D13, 634,000D3, 000, 000D4, 592,000

Islamic Development Bank (IDB)

Lower basic Education support

D 21,525,000

HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries)

Education sector D 16,610,000

GLF (Education Sector) Education sector D 14,000,000

Total Education Development Budget

Education sector D293,529,174

Out of the total development budget of D 1,683,129,102 estimated for the year 2004 the Education sector got D 293,529,174 or 18% , being the second highest and mainly allocated for, Construction and Infrastructure and was higher than the development allocations for Agriculture and Health .

Other donors to the sector include DFID, the OPEC FUND and The Japanese Grant. DFID is mainly involved with capacity building at the Planning Department

The priority programmes according to the provision in the developing budget of the education sector are namely;

Basic Education –Access, quality affordability and relevance. Girls Education –Access Skills Training –Access and Relevance Pre-Service Teacher Training –Quality and relevance In-service Teacher Training Quality and Relevant Computer Literacy for Senior Secondary School Quality and Relevance University Education Access Quality, Affordability and Relevance Planning Policy and Budgeting –capacity building of sector management.

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Distant learning and professional development, mainly for school heads and senior teachers through Gambia College and the university of the Gambia.

Access, Quality Affordability and Relevance.

In both recurrent and development spending, Basic Education remains the priority spending area between 1998 and 2001 and remains so up till now. From 1998 to 2001 basic education received 14% of recurrent expenditure (Lower basic 10%, Upper basic 4%), Senior secondary 3%, quality control 2% and Administration 2% (PERS)

In the development expenditure implemented through the Third Education Sector Project (TESP), and which ended in April 2004, Basic education received the 52%, of which, 65% went to civil works, 10% to training, 8% to consultancy and 6% to furniture and materials; and Management and administration received 35%.

9.4 Conclusions: Constraints, Challenges and Recommendations

The main aim of the education policy is to reduce poverty. The current figures as indicated in the study shows that poverty rather than declining is on the increase. This poses a challenge to the effectiveness of education in playing a poverty reduction or eradication role.

Public expenditure in the education sector however continues to grow. And this must be seen as a demonstration of the priority government places on education. Public expenditure on education increased by 50% from 1998 to 2001 at current prices. Education alone took the lion share of the total recurrent public expenditure with a percentage allocation of 18.2% of the total budget with Basic Education have a percentage share of 63% of the total recurrent education budget (2004).

The distribution of expenditure across the Education services demonstrates both priority areas and the levels of funding. It should however be noted that as these levels indicate priorities, so do they reflect the extent of their adequacy or inadequacy to meet sub-sectoral demands. The small allocations given to Senior Secondary Schools, of only 11% of total education recurrent budget, and, tertiary level education, vocational education and technical training, adult education, and standards and quality control are not commensurable to the resources required for the achievement of stated policy goals such as the expansion of enrolment and access at the Senior Secondary School level, Tertiary education, elimination of illiteracy, through adult education and the development of vocational education and training through training institutions and the skill centers. Even the allocation given to standards and quality control illustrate the limited capacity and expectations in this function of education service delivery. In order words, the available resources do not match the expected optimum function or output.

A substantial amount of the grant-aided subventions are allocated to Christian and Muslim Mission schools in the basic and senior secondary levels to meet the salaries of teachers and other personnel within the schools and institutions and not to the public school, which claim to be highly under-resourced. These grants constitute approximate 80% to 90% of the operations of these institutions as they constitute the salaries of the staff. In other words, Government continues to fund private schools through these non-public bodies. It should be noted that most of the grant-aided schools are located in the urban conglomerate in Regions 1 and 2, and where the most affluent groups are located in contrast to the remote regions in the rural areas. The DOSE subvention also provides funding for other educational services and

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programmes. The following table (38) is a summary of subventions and granted –in- aid provided by DOSE.

Table 38: Summary of Allocation of Subventions to Education Programmes and Services

Programme/Institution Amount 2002 Amount 2003 2004Basic Education( Lower) D11 462, 570 D13, 791, 930 15,349,170

Secondary schools 25,890,020 27,585,910Tertiary

GTTIGambia CollegeUniversity of the Gambia

5,369,2206,253,570

5,945,0206,664,334

National Library 695,080 725,810 835,754UNESCO NatcomNTATotal

In the Gambia salaries and grants-in aid together constitute 78.4% of total government spending on education and grant-in aid to schools alone constitute about 25% government recurrent expenditure. This however does not include other subventions to the UTG, GTTI and Gambia College, which have technical assistance components, which are not included in the total expenditure on education. If all the expenditures are considered, the percentage share of personnel emoluments and grant-in-aid will be well over 90% of recurrent expenditure. Grant-in Aid alone constitute 15% of total recurrent expenditure of the DOSE.

This system of financing education through subventions may not be sustainable in the long run and defeats the whole objective of equity in the distribution of educational resources and services. All mission schools should therefore be allowed to operate like all other private schools to encourage private participation and to remove the burden of financing mission based education from public funds. This will lead to more efficient use of educational resources by reducing the burden of cost on government and releasing needed resources especially learning and teaching materials for the deprived public schools.

Grant aided schools are also more concentrated in the more expensive school levels, namely, Upper Basic and Senior Secondary schools. Grant funded enrolment constitute 30% at the Secondary school level, whiles it constitutes 11% of enrolment in lower basic and 14% in Upper Basic. Some 63% of grant- aided schools are at the secondary level. Whiles, 99% of public salary expenditure in Education is also at this level.

The distribution of grant-aided schools also affects the allocation of education resources. Since most of the grant-aided secondary schools are located in Regions 1 and 2, the bulk of the resources that go to these likewise are concentrated in these regions where the more affluent groups of the population are located. This disparity further accentuates the regional inequities in the distribution of educational resources for development.

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The vast amounts of financial resources allocated to salaries are in sharp contrast to the meager amounts allocated to material resources such as books and learning materials 1.8% in 2001, operations and maintenance 3.9% of education assets, which constitute some 69% of civil works, not to mention the operation and maintenance of the fleet of vehicles under DOSE and under the Regional Director. The level of funds for operations and maintenance is generally regarded as low. For example the percentage share of operating cost of externally funded investments averaged 5.9% from 1998 to 2001. (PERS 2001). This low level of funding for operations and maintenance has led to the deterioration of school infrastructure and handicaps the effective and efficient delivery of educational services.

Finally large donor support and participation in the development of the education sector is a significant achievement as it demonstrates the commitment of the international community and the confidence they have in the country and the viability of its development programmes and policies in the education sector. Some 90% of development expenditure on education is derived from external donor funding and mainly in the form of loans. This source of funding cannot be guaranteed as access to such funds are based on conditions that are determined by the donor. These include political reforms, economic reforms and performance, high interest payments and adjustment programmes which may be inimical to the interest of the poor

The above key issues and challenges in financing the education sector indicate that there is need to propose possible lines of action to improve education financing mechanisms in order to resource the sector adequately if set targets and substantial improvements are to be achieved at all levels of the education system and in all programmes.

The following recommendations are therefore suggested:

Increase the financing of the education with emphasis on pro-poor strategies

Make senior secondary and tertiary level education more affordable

Increase the general budgetary allocations to DOSE so that sub-sector needs can be adequately meet and in line with expected sub-sector outputs

Increase allocations specifically to the under-resource sub-sectors, namely, senior secondary, tertiary, vet, non-formal education and quality related programmes

Control with a view to reduce the high component of the cost of personnel in education through regular staff audit exercises, elimination of unqualified teachers, reduction of Islamic teachers who constitute the bulk of the unqualified teachers

Increase the subventions to the tertiary institutions, namely, GTTI, Gambia College, the University of the Gambia so that these can expand their enrolment capacities and programmes in line with manpower demands of the economy

Encourage private sector participation through direct investment in the provision of schools and tertiary level institution either singularly or in partnership with government

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Reduce the over-dependence on external sources of funding the education investment programmes as these may prove costly in the long run and jeopardize the development of the sector.

Rationalize the grant-in aid to school with the view to enabling grant-aided schools to generate their own income as is practiced currently by non-grant aided private schools. This will open up competition and perhaps encourage more private sector participation as the current practice of grant-in-aid promotes an unfair practice to the non-grant-aided private schools.

Increase budgetary allocations to girls education in order to ensure equity and gender parity at all levels of the education system and in all programmes

Conduct regular public expenditure reviews on the education sector to determine and monitor the effective utilization of resources put at the disposal of the sector

Devote adequate financial resources to the purchase and acquisition of learning and training materials

Decentralize the regional budgets to the regional directorates in line with the decentralization policy and to ensure equity in the allocation and utilization of the budget

Improve capacity at the regional directorates for budget preparations and budget management

Design a comprehensive national investment programme for the full re-integration of VET into the secondary school system beyond theory to practical training.

These recommendations are relevant to the current review of the education policy and can be taken on board to improve the performance of the sector.

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CHAPTER 10: EDUCATION SECTOR MANAGEMENT

10.1. Introduction

The success of any education policy would largely depend on the effectiveness of the Management and organizational structures that are in place and mandated to carry-out the national mission of providing, promoting, developing, planning, monitoring and coordinating all resources put into the sector. This role amongst others lies with DOSE.

The Education Policy 1988 2003 had amongst its aims and objectives, the restructuring of and broadening the management of the DOSE with strong emphasis on decentralization. This includes the creation of the six regional offices, which have now been upgraded to regional directorates. Accountability and performance standards have now been set for all officers at DOSE.

10.2 Management and Organizational Structure - DOSE

10.2.1 Policy Issues Strategies and Objectives

The education Policies from 1988 to 2003 and subsequent policies up to 2004 and beyond have always contained strategies and objectives for development, management and co-ordination of the Education sector under the responsibility of DOSE. It is responsible for guiding the development of the Education sector during periods of policy implementation and beyond.

The Secretary of State for Education is responsible for leadership in the sector including the policy oversight. The Permanent Secretary is the Executive head of the Department and adviser to the Secretary of State. He/She is also responsible for providing oversight over the activities of the sector. The Permanent Secretary is also assisted by two Deputy- Permanent Secretaries, one of whom assist the Permanent Secretary in the administrative and financial management functions of the department, while the other assists in the coordination of policy implementation at both headquarters level and at the regional level.

There are two management committees set up at the DOSE for the effective management and co-ordination of policy implementation. These are namely, the Senior Management Team (SMT), composed of director of the sector, the Permanent secretary and the two Deputy-Permanent Secretaries. The SOS chairs this committee. The second committee is the Coordinating Committee Meeting (CCM). This comprises of all directors, principal education officers (PEOs), managers and deputy managers, deputy permanent secretaries. The Permanent Secretary chairs this committee. These two committees meet bi-monthly and the venues of the meetings are rotated around the each of the six regions.

The scope and objectives of the programme for improving the management of the sector were namely:

1. Increase the level of professionalism of Officers at the DOSE

2. Restructure the DOSE and establish the directorate

3. Create a system of accountability at both the regional and headquarters level

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4. Improve the output and performance of Officials at headquarters and at the regional level including school managers

5. Decentralize management and administration to the regions

6. Improve the channels of communication through the introduction of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS)

7. Create an Information Technology and Human Resources Directorate

By the end of the policy period most of theses policy objectives were attained. Several senior officers have under gone professional development training over the years. The DOSE has been restructured into a directorate system at both headquarters and at the regional level with the latter now over sighting sub-sector activities in the respective regions. Decentralization measures are now well established with the regional directorates in place. Both the EMIS and GIS are now in place and sector managers can now access to information about Education either through the DOSE website or at headquarters where a proficient data base has been set up at the Planning Directorate. The directorate of Information Technology and Human Resources development was established during the policy period and has been further restructured to separate the IT component from the HR.

Currently there are six professional directorates and a director who is the technical and professional adviser to the Permanent Secretary heads each. The directorates are namely:

1) Planning and Budgeting2) Human Resource Development3) Basic and Secondary Education4) Standards and Quality Assurance5) Science information and Communication Technology6) Tertiary/Higher Education and Research

10.2.2 Planning and Budgeting Directorate

This directorate consists of four integrated components, namely, planning, budgeting, and information and statistical analysis. Its primary function include the provision of advice on and analysis of policy issues, the collection, compilation analysis and dissemination of education statistics, analysis and evaluation of recurrent and development expenditures from both government and external sources.

The EMIS at the Planning and budgeting directorate is accorded priority status as an effective tool in the rational planning of the education system The directorate is responsible for assessing the quality of existing school facilities throughout the country and also for the possibility of expansion based on studied indicators in order to ensure equity in the distribution of educational facilities, institutions and resources. (Education Policy 2004 – 2015). It is responsible for conducting school mapping exercises that show and rationalize the location of all schools and colleges in the country.

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10.2.3 Human Resource Directorate

This directorate is responsible for human resource development and management of the education system. It functions includes teacher posting assessment, teacher recruitment through the Gambia College or the UTG. It also coordinates all training aspects of the departments training needs. All training and promotion are determined by a Staff Performance Appraisal System to ensure transparency and accountable on staff development matters. The directorate is also responsible for responding to teachers petitions, assess teachers conditions of service, attend to teachers disciplinary issues and give advice on teachers remunerations and incentive packages as means of indiginizing the teaching force at all levels.

The HRD is responsible for teacher training, quality performance, teacher supply, review of training strategies, arrange for staff accommodation in difficult areas and the administration of national scholarships for further training at university level for teachers and other students.

10.2.4 Basic and Secondary Education Directorate

In the first policy period, the directorate of basic education and secondary education were separated as Basic Education Directorate (BED) and Secondary and Tertiary Education Directorate (STED) respectively. In the new policy 2004 – 2015, the two are integrated as indicated above. This directorate is responsible for advising and guiding on policy directives on Basic and Secondary education. It is responsible for its effective functioning through programme linkages with ECD, Girls education, Special education, Madrassa education, Non-formal education, Life skills education and for poverty reduction through Schools Farms and Gardens which has been reformed to the School Agriculture and Food Management (SAFMU).

In line with the decentralization policy and promotion of stakeholder ownership, the directorate promotes school management through the school boards or school committees such as the Parent Teachers Associations. (PTA). (Education Policy 2004 – 2015)

10.2.5 Science, Information and Communication Technology Directorate

This directorate is amongst the latest directorates at DOSE. It was created in line with the policy objectives of promoting Science and Information Communication and Technology education specially Computer literacy in schools, and in the sector as a whole. The directorate is also responsible for the Education Broadcasting Service (EBS), in support of the teaching/learning process both in and out of school.

10.2.6 Standard and Quality Assurance Directorate

The Standards and Quality Assurance Directorate is responsible for monitoring compliance of the education policy and the related acts and regulations in all educational institutions operating in the country. Its primary functions are namely the monitoring and supervision of curriculum at all levels of the school system including ECD and Madrassa; learning achievement targets, teacher quality and performance, and PTA participation in school monitoring and development. The directorate works closely with the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) in the production and implementation of effective assessment,

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measurement and evaluation tools of the learning and teaching process in the school system. (Education Policy 2004 – 2015).

10.2.7 Tertiary/ Higher Education and Research Directorate

This directorate is a new creation in response to increasing demand for high education in the country. It is responsible for the coordination of all aspects of tertiary and higher education programmes, including the provision of facilities, and resources. It will also promote the coordination of research activities in accordance with quality assurance systems. The directorate is charged with the responsibility for establishment of the Higher Education Observatory, which will have oversight responsibility for quality assurance at tertiary and higher education institutions.

10.2.8 Programme and Donor Coordination Unit (PDCU)

The Programme and Donor Coordination Unit is responsible for donor mobilization and support for the education investment programme. Its functions include the organization, control, and supervision of donor-assisted activities in the sector. It is also responsible for the management of class-room construction programme and under take the overall contracts management for the procurement of good sand services and arrange for the disbursement and replenishment of project supported activities including training and technical assistance requirements. The Unit will gradually be phased out and integrated into the DOSE as a directorate.

10.2.9 Regional Directorates

In line with the policy to decentralize the management and development of education through institutional capacity building the DOSE has upgraded the Regional Offices to directorate level headed by regional directors. They are responsible for the planning and implementation of education programmes in the regions. The directors are answerable to the Permanent Secretary. These regional directorates will eventually be absorbed into the local government authority structure in support of the decentralization programme. The regional directors will be responsible for all education programmes. The will also house the specialized directorates of DOSE, such as ECD, Basic Education, Non-formal, Senior Secondary, tertiary level programmes in their respective regions. The role of DOSE at headquarters will remain largely one of monitoring and evaluation of policy implementation across the regions.

10.2.10 Support Structures

Besides the directorates at DOSE there other support structures that implement policies and programmes for the development of the education sector. These are namely the

I. National Training Authority

II. The Gambia College Council

III. The University Governing Council,

IV. The Higher Education Observatory,

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V. The Advisory Council on Education

These above mentioned authorities are established by acts of the National Assembly as statutory bodies with executive powers to execute the programmes entrusted to them. They also act as advisory bodies to the Secretary of State responsible for Education in their respective mandates and functions. The first three structures have already been established with the attendant institutions and the NTA being the latest. The last two however are yet to be established but are among the actions to be taken during the 2004 – 2015 Education Policy.

10.3 Conclusions – Constraints, challenges and Recommendations

The management of the education system has undergone significant reforms in line with the new demands of the sector as outlined in the policy documents. The DOSE itself continues to undergo transformation with capacity building as the major strategic policy focus for programme implementation. All directorates are structured around programmes that are contained in the Education Policy. The decentralization of the management system and the upgrading of the regional offices to directorate levels are achievements in institutional capacity building. Similarly the re-structuring of the DOSE with directorates structured around programmes must also be seen as a rational approach to educational management that optimizes upon the expertise and professionalism of the officers in the various programme areas they are specialized in. All these reforms have helped in improving the quality of management of the education system. The strengths of the management sector of the education system now is that it has a well focused staff, clearly defined objectives and targets with quality documentation, fairly adequate resources in comparative terms and frequent exposure of staff to current activities and ideas on education through the SMT, CCM, workshops, training and Annual Review Meetings on the sector.

There are however constraints that the management of the sector is still faced with. The decentralization programme appears not to be fully resourced at all the Regional directorates so that they can be fully functional. They are under staffed and lack adequate equipment such a vehicles to effectively monitor the effective implementation of the education development programme under their regions. The lack of resources such as vehicles and adequate fuel for the vehicles is a common compliant from education offices at the regional directorates. The single vehicle that may exist is either for the use of the regional director and where other vehicles exist, these are tied to specific projects that may not fall under the direct control of the regional director.

The decentralization programme including the management of and ownership of schools by local government authorities and the participation of Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs) in school management and decision-making has also not be assessed to find out whether it is effective and efficient or whether it remains constrained by lack of adequate financial and human resources and even lack of adequate authority and responsibility. The decentralization of management without adequate resources and responsibility may be counter-product and eventually dysfunctional to the attainment of policy objectives. This programme therefore needs to be review with the view of improving upon it.

Other constraints or weaknesses in the management of the sector include regional disparities in resources, staffing, implementation rate, supervision and monitoring affecting performance, especially at school level, low disbursement rate of budget funds, which

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sometimes lead to under-utilization of budget funds, deficient budget procedures, malfunctioning or ineffective committees and boards such as the Scholarship Trust Fund and the Regional Committees which are not currently functioning. ( DOSE Annual Sector Review - August 2004). These structures need to be activated to reinforce and improve sector management supported by rigorous and better monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for the efficient use of budgetary allocations. The high attrition rate of well trained staff both at management and at school levels undermines the degree of professionalism and efficiency of management of the education system resulting to low implementation rates, poor supervision of activities especially the management of teacher supply and issues of quality in schools. There is therefore need to examine the reasons for the high staff attrition rate and in particular factors affecting staff morale and motivation. In this regard strategies for professional training and staff development should be put in place.

There is also the lack of regional work plans or regional databases with up to date data for education planning and decision making at the regional level thus making it difficult to set regional targets and benchmarks.

From the above information it is apparent that the management of the sector requires collective action, integration and better coordination. Diverse education programmes form the core of activities upon which structures and functions of management are based including partnerships and donor participation in the sector. These programmes need to be continually reviewed and adapted to the rapidly changing education environment as new challenges present themselves, which would call for innovation and new approaches to education management.

Considering the above achievements, challenges and constraints and indeed the magnitude of the national educational agenda discussed above, the following recommendations are useful:

Improve upon the degree of professionalism at the management level through professional development and staff training policy and a defined programme of implementation

Establish a professional development and staff training policy and a defined programme of implementation

Ensure that benchmarks and targets set for sector management directorates are achieved

Ensure effective coordination and integration of all activities including financial control and management

Ensure that staff is well focused with clearly defined job descriptions

Provide adequate resources for the management of the sector including adequate means of transport and equipment for their operations and maintenance

Conduct regular workshops and seminars as part of professional training and staff development

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Optimize the use of the EMIS to enhance capacity and quality of sector management

Established database on all education programmes and in all regional directorates to enhance management and contribute towards institutional capacity building.

Reduce the large regional disparity programmes, resource allocation, staffing, implementation rates, supervision and monitoring and performance especially at the schools level

Improve upon budgeting procedure and expenditure schedules to avoid underutilization or non-utilization of allocated budget

Consolidated the decentralization process and transfer more responsibility and authority to the regional directorates and ensure the establishment of regional plans as inputs to the overall education plan and for effective management and evaluation of policy impacts at the regional level.

Reduce the staff attrition rate by offering better incentives and security of tenure for highly trained staff with rare management and planning skills

Maintain existing review, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms such as the SMT, CCM and annual sector review as good management practices

Provide enough funds for educational management commensurable to the giant task of developing and effectively managing the sector.

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CHAPTER 11: EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

11.1. Introduction

11.2 Policy Issues Strategies and Objectives.

The overall orientation of Vision 2020 is contained in the mission statement, which states:

“To transform The Gambia into a financial, a tourist paradise, a trading, export oriented agricultural and manufacturing nation, thriving on free market policies, and a vibrant private sector, sustained by a well educated, trained, skilled, healthy, self-reliant and enterprising population, and guaranteeing a well balanced eco-system and a decent standard of living for one and all, under a system of government based on the consent of the citizenry”

This mission statement assumes that the achievement of the goals contained in Vision 2020 will be based on the existence of a well educated, highly trained and highly skilled and knowledgeable manpower. In other words, without an educated, trained and skilled human resource, Vision 2020 cannot be fully achieved or sustained. This makes the education sector the link-pin in the strategies for the attainment of Vision 2020.

Vision 2020 equates Education with Human Resource Development. On Human Resource Development- Educational Training it states:

“ As a center piece in the strive towards the development of our human capital base, basic education shall be provided up to grade 9 for all enrolled pupils in our school system. More openings shall be made available for continuation of education after this level into skill centers for students who do not wish to or are unable to continue into the academic stream. In parallel, adult education opportunities shall be created in addition to functional literacy programmes in the local languages…. The education sector shall be progressively called upon to put appropriate emphasis and priority in continuously investing in learning infrastructure, to produce a continuous stream of technicians in order to carter for a diversification of economic and social activities by the year 2020.”

In general Vision 2020 provides a broad policy framework for the education sector to provide the required human resource for the sustainability of the achievement of the Vision and as part of the expected role of the education sector, namely to produce a highly trained and skilled human resource. This is aimed at increasing the productivity and efficiency in the use of labour; the strengthening of the human resource base for sustained economic growth and increasing investment in human resource development and in new technology, in particular Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The Mission Statement of the of the Department of State for Education reads as follows;

“ The Department of State for Education is resolved to provide access to quality education to develop a computer literate and technologically competent populace with renewed emphasis on Science, Technology, Agriculture and Arts in developing a productive and capable human resource base for the new millennium”

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The Mission Statement of the DOSE and Vision 2020 objectives are identical, namely, the development of a highly skilled trained and knowledgeable and productive human resource for the country.

In order to increase the supply of skilled and trained manpower, it is necessary to increase the capacity in education and training institutions and the current demand is for high level skills for the economy as envisaged in Vision 2020 and as the century moves towards a high capital intensive and technology-based production process.

The link therefore between education and manpower is that the former plays the role of producing the critical mass of trained, skilled and knowledgeable manpower to support economic growth. Towards this end the education system and its delivery should be designed to be flexible, responsive and adaptive to the changing needs of the industrial base of the economy and technological advancement as a knowledge-based economy that requires qualitative and quantitative in puts in human resources.

11.2.1 National Employment Policy (NEP) 2001 and National Employment Action Plan (NEAP) 2003 – 2008

The primary objective of the National Employment Policy and the National employment Action Plan 2003 – 2008 is the creation of a “skilled, versatile, dynamic and efficient workforce. The objective a cornerstone to the achievement of the goals of Vision 2020 and the PRSP, which is to reduce poverty through a critical human resource development approach and the creation of employment opportunities. That is to say, to reduce poverty, every citizen should be involved in productive employment. This will likewise prevent social exclusion and set the country towards the path of sustainable human development

The over-riding Policy goal is to promote full employment as a priority in national, economic and social policy and to enable the economically active population to attain a secure sustainable livelihood through full production and freely chosen employment and work by year 2020. (National Employment Policy, DOSTIE July 2001)

The Government is therefore committed to a people centered development approach and as such puts emphasis on the following strategies;

Increasing mass participation in the development process

Achieving a level of income and growth that guarantees the vast majority of the people acceptable levels of nutrition, shelter, education and health

Promoting equitable distribution of income and socio-economic, infratsructural facilities.

The specific objectives of the NEP are namely;

To pursue poverty reduction policies through labour intensive programmes and improvement of the labour environment

To promote a well educated, trained, skilled, self-reliant and enterprising population with a view to increasing employment

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To reduce unemployment by 5% per annum during the Plan period

To strengthen the existing labour administrative system for its proper functioning for promotion of decent work, worker participation in decision making through collective bargaining and an efficient industrial conflict resolution mechanism in the labour market

To provide a consensus based social security system that guarantees security of income and adequacy of compensations

To provide maximum opportunities for workers to utilize their skills and capabilities in a congenial work environment totally free from considerations of gender, religion, political affiliation, disability and ethnic or social origin

To safeguard basic human rights and interests of workers and promote adherence to international labour standards

To provide social protection, safe working conditions and occupational safety and health for workers

11.2.2 Challenges and Constraints

The Country however is faced with serious challenges and critical constraints that impinge on employment and human resources development. These include increasing population and labour force, the performance of the economic and social sectors, the implications of a private sector led development primarily motivated by profit and rising and high unemployment and underemployment. Other critical issues include decline in agricultural outputs, low literacy rate labour force, skill shortages, poverty, internal and regional conflicts, the debt burden increasing competition and globalization and a growing informal sector with a low productivity. It is observed in the Policy document that young people who leave school enter the labour market with no immediate marketable skills and consequently swell the pool of unemployed or unemployable who consist mainly of youths and women and both the urban and rural areas.

The critical issues therefore are that;

Population growth will impact considerable on the content and character of the labour force

Poverty and inequitable distribution of income and economic power will continue to be challenges to the achievement of the objectives of the NEP

Unemployment and unemployment are related to education and training in relevant skills

Growth in employment will be dependent on the growth and performance of the private – sector led development drive

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Self-employment will continue to be a significant policy target in the future

Cultural taboos against employment in certain skills due to caste-ism will have to be addressed to expand employment opportunities

The NEP and NEAP in combination provides a roadmap for the achievement of the goals of Vision 2020 and the PRSP that addresses critical human development issues in order the increase employment opportunities as part of the strategies for the alleviation of poverty. The success of the policy however will depend on a lot of other factors such as those mentioned above including, the performance of the economy, the rate of out puts from educational and skills - training institutions donor support and the sustainability of achievements in these areas.

11.2.3 Public Sector Human Development Policy

Although there is no private sector national manpower plan ( something, which is urgently needed), the Government over the years has been addressing the issue of training and development for the Gambia civil Service. The Civil Service consists of some 13,000 employees and it is regard as the engine responsible for the development of the country and indeed the largest single employer in the formal sector. Most or the literates or educated Gambians are employed in the Civil Service.

The Training and Development Policy 2001 – 2005 (The Gambia Civil Service) provides broad policy guidelines for the attainment of “a professional and dynamic, efficient and effective, proactive and productive civil service that is flexible and adaptive to change and innovation, capable not only of formulating sound policies but also translating these policies into tangible results.” (Training and development Policy 2001 – 2005 The Gambia Civil Service- Personnel Management Office, April 2000)

The specific policy objectives of the Training and development Policy 2001 – 2005 The Gambia Civil Service are namely;

To conduct training needs assessment to determine capacity gaps within the Service

To provide a rational and systematic format/structure for training, which is relevant to manpower development needs of the Gambia in collaboration with PMO and in liaison with the various Departments of State

To prioritize and rationalize the training needs from Departments of State by the Advisory Committee

To encourage and expand competence in computer literacy and Information Technology amongst Civil Service Operators

To encourage multi-skilling, multi-disciplinary and performance-oriented training

To develop the managerial and technical skills of all Civil Service employees so as to improve managerial and organizational effectiveness and quality of service delivery

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To develop capacity in analytical skills in policy formulation, implementation and evaluation

To ensure equal opportunity irrespective of gender, religion or social background

To ensure better human and financial resource management

To promote on-the job training and job-rotation within and across sectors to widen experience

To encourage employees to be proactive and to develop work-plans with departmental visions or mission statements

The training of civil servants is centralized at the Personnel Management Office where training requirements of all departments are rationalized and streamlined based on submitted and approved work-plans, cost-effectiveness and relevance to institutional requirements and to produce a model civil service that will propel the country into the 21st century.

Training is provided mainly in the following forms;

On-the-job training Formal in-service-training Oversea training Informal training In-country training Workshops and seminars Study tours and attachments

Funding for training mainly comes from GLF, Donors such as DFID, CFTC, CAFRAD and UNDP or through bi-lateral agreements. The current GLF level for the training of Civil Service personnel is estimated at D4, 000,000. The Management Development Institute (MDI) is largely responsible for providing training for the Civil Service in the form of full – time and part time courses and mainly for middle level manpower. This is hardly adequate to meet the constant demand for staff development and professional training of Civil Servants. Due to limited funding especially for overseas training, and limited training capacity at the MDI there is limited training opportunities and high degree of competition for the little funds that are available. Consequently, personnel who cannot access training through the Civil service tend to leave the Service for careers with possible professional development and training opportunities. The PMO however does not agree with this view. To them the private sector poaches most of the trained civil servants but hardly train them or even its own personnel. Therefore even if a personnel leaves the civil service for the private sector it may not be for the motive of acquiring training but may be a better condition of service and better financial remuneration and professional development. This partly explains the high attrition rate at the upper and middle levels of the Civil service many of whom are now found in the private sector or public corporations or migrate to North America or Europe in search of “greener pastures” and consequently a human capital lost to the development process. It is important to note that besides the PMO, there are other sectors that are manning that are manning projects within the Civil Service, e.g. DOSE, that have that have other training votes like the World Bank scholarship package that is specifically used for the training of Teachers

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on PTC, HTC and BED. DOSE also administers the D6, 000,000 training vote for West African awards which is mainly for the sponsorship of local training. Finally there is also the International Scholarship Award under DOSE, which is also open to all Gambians. All these training programmes and funds compliment the PMO training vote and helps to boost Human Resources Development within the Country

11.2. 4 Challenges and Constraints

There are several challenges and constraints that face the development of the human resource of the Civil Service. These include;

The need to develop a highly professional Civil Service with relevant qualifications to man specific jobs efficiently

To need to develop an ICT trained Civil service at all levels as new technologies determine management productivity and efficiency

The need to provide adequate funds for staff development and professional training in order to maintain and sustain achieved capacity

Monitor and evaluate training gaps and identify training needs to achieve effective utilization of trained staff

Staff training and development is also accompanied with expectations of career path development and promotion. This has implications on pay and remuneration policies.

There is no guarantee that staff that has received training will stay with the organization.

The issue of lack of security of tenure.

The acute shortage of professional staff at the decision-making, policy formulation and project implementation levels in the public sector.

Lack of awareness of personnel matters of promotion, longevity, confirmation in appointment, acting appointments, procedures for civil servants.

Poor pay and compensation packages for civil servants and lack of conducive working conditions.

The above challenges and constraints will have to be addressed in any plan to develop and sustain the human resources base of this country.

11.3. Population and Human Resource Development

The Gambia experienced rapid population growth over the last 20 years in that the population increased from 687,817 in 1983 to 1,038,145 in 1993 and the provisional census figures indicate that the national population size is now about 1, 346, 507. These statistics indicate inter-census growth rates of 3.4%, 4.2% and 2.8% respectively. The growth in population during the past three decades is attributable both to an increase in natural growth as well as

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immigration. The natural increase was due to a decline in mortality, particularly infant and under five mortality as well as an almost stagnant high total fertility rates.

Although the Gambia is ranked 151st position out of the 174 countries in the UN Human Development Index Report 2003, the last three decades witnessed improvements in human development as evidence in increases in life expectancy from 42.8% in 1983 to 59.3% in 1993 and currently estimated at 65%. Similar literacy increased from 25% in 1983 to 37% in 1993 and current (2003) stands at 6%. GDP has been on the increase over the last three decades and reached $315 per capita. Since 1998, real GDP has grown steadily by an average of 5.3% per year after a long period of deteriorating economic growth and stagnation

The theme of the Gambia Human Development Report 2000, which was “Promoting Good Governance for Human Development and Poverty Eradication” highlighted the strategies policies and programmes of the various sectoral policies in terms of how such would lead to the development of the human resources in a way that will not only lead to good governance but also to the achievement of the country’s basic objectives of sustainable development, improved human rights and poverty reduction.

The National Population Policy and Programme ( Revised 1996) is aimed at improving the quality and raising the standard of living of all Gambians through a sustained balance between population growth and socio-economic development. In this regard the Population Policy is linked to the Health and Education Policies through cross-cutting issues and programmes directed at the same population groups such as reduction in child and maternal mortality rates, reduction of the fertility rates of women, increase access to health and education and concern over the rapid spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. As the adage goes “a healthy body is a healthy mind” whiles others would added under local situations, “if you educate a man you educate a bread winner and if you educate a woman you educate a nation” especially in a country where women constitute the majority of the food producers. Thus under the Population and Development Programme the education sector has been assisted by the UNFPA and UNICEF to design a curriculum and introduce the Subject Life Skills and Population and Family Education (POP/FLE) into the formal school curricular and in the Madrassa schools. Similarly the National Youth Policy puts emphasis on reproductive health family planning and HIV/AIDS issues.

11.4. Rural – Urban Distribution

Migration both rural – urban as well as immigration is a critical factor in the evolution of the country’s population. Rural – urban migration has substantially affected the spatial distribution of the population over the years. It is estimated that some 30.8% of the population lived in urban areas in comparison to 37.1% for 1993. It is expected that results of the 2003 Population and Housing census will reveal an increase in the concentration of the population in the urban areas as the provisional figures already revealed that 55% of the population live in the local Government Areas (LGA) of Banjul, Kanifing and Brikama, which constitute the large urban conglomerates.

Immigration contributed 0.5% of the population growth rate in 1983 and 0.7% in 1993. It is largely determined by political and economic factors in the sub-region.

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11.5. The Labour Force and Participation Rates

The labour force can be divided into the economically active and the economically inactive persons comprising of the employed and the unemployed in the population from the age 10 and above and are engaged in the production of goods and services. This group takes up 33.27% of the total population and 96.16% of the total economically active population whiles the unemployed represent 1.28% of the total population and constitute 3.84% of the economically active (Population and Housing Census, 1993 Economic Characteristics Vol. 7). In 1998 economically active increased to 59.1% while the inactive was 40.1% (1998 National Household Poverty Survey Report, SPACO/DOSFEA). The inactive population consists of mainly of students who are not yet ready for work as well as homemakers or non-working housewives. Whiles 39.4% of the males constitute the inactive population, some 60.6% of the inactive population are females. This high proportion could be attributed to lack of adequate access to education besides other social-cultural factors, which have tended to inhibit the full participation of women in all spheres of life in this country.

The following table (39) shows distribution of persons of the economically active by gender in 1983 and 1993. (The 2003 census is not yet out and are not available).

Table 39: Distribution of persons of the Economically Active by gender in 1983 and 1993Activity Characteristics

1983 1993 % Change

Males 174,856 207,310 18.56%Females 150,762 138,071 -8.42Total 325,618 345,381 6.07

The above table shows that there has been a significant increase in the total number of economically active group by 6.07% from 1983 to 1993. The male category increased substantially by 18.56% whiles the female category actually declined by –8.42% in the same period. In this context, the labour-force participation rate is much higher for males than that of the females.

11.6. Employment and Employment Rates

In the Gambia 96.16% of the total economically active or 31.99% of the total population are employed. Out of the total employed, 58.87% are males and 40.13% are females; 34.27% are in urban and 65.73% are in rural areas. This can be explained by the fact that the most people in rural areas engage in farming and are self-employed. The total number of employed persons in 1983 was 298,853. This increased to 332,104 in 1993, an increase of 11.13%. Whilst the number of males employed increased by 26.72%, the number of females employed declined by –6.11%.

The following table (40) shows summary of distribution of Employed by gender for 1983, 1993 and 2003.

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Table 40: Distribution of Employed by Gender for 1983, 1993 and 2003.Activity Characteristics

1983 1993 % Change

Males 156,903 198,824 26.72Females 141,950 133,280 -6.11Total 298,853 332,104 11.13%

A proportional distribution of the employed persons by age shows that the aged 25 to 29 years constitute the greatest proportion of employed persons and the aged 55 to 59 constitute the less economic active group.

Table 41: Percentage Distribution of Employed by Gender Age-group area and Gender, 1993

Age-group

% of Total in Gambia % Employed in Urban

% Employed in Rural

M F Both M F Both M F Both10-14 4.55 7.79 5.85 1.18 5.35 2.38 6.88 8.58 7.6615-19 7.76 12.94 9.84 6.02 13.30 8.11 8.96 12.82 10.7420-24 12.50 13.62 12.95 14.67 15.85 15.01 11.00 12.89 11.8725-29 15.44 16.09 15.70 18.60 16.77 18.07 13.26 15.87 14.4630-34 12.82 13.19 12.97 15.08 13.72 14.69 11.26 13.02 12.0735-39 10.81 9.96 10.47 12.58 11.07 12.14 9.58 9.60 9.9540-44 9.23 8.57 8.97 9.87 9.78 8.05 9.28 8.86 8.8045-49 7.26 5.06 6.38 7.52 5.19 6.85 7.09 5.01 6.1350-54 6.18 4.70 5.58 5.35 3.96 4.95 6.75 4.94 5.9155-59 3.81 2.13 3.14 3.20 2.00 2.86 4.22 2.18 3.2860-64 3.91 2.69 3.42 2.62 2.06 2.46 4.79 2.90 3.9265& over 5.74 3.26 4.75 3.41 2.68 3.20 7.35 3.45 5.55% of Total 59.87 40.13 100.00 71.27 28.73 100.00 53.93 46.07 100.00

Table 41 shows the Percentage Distribution of Employed by Age-group area and Gender. (Population and household Census 1993. CSD)

The above Table shows that the age-group 25-29 years constitute most of the economically active and also constitute the greatest proportion of the employed. The lowest proportion is taken by the age-group 55-59 years, which constitute the least economic active group. The table also shows that males constitute 71.27% of the employed while females constitute 28.73%. In the rural, whereas 53.93% of the employed are males, the females constitute 46.07%. It should be noted that the age-group 10-19 years of females in rural areas constitute the highest employment rate. This demonstrates the high incidence of child labour at a time when this cohort should be in schools.

The employment rates also vary between urban and rural areas and also between males and females. The following table (42) shows employment rates for males and females and between Urban and rural areas.

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Table 42: Employment Rates by Gender and Area

Gender National Urban RuralMale 57.90% 57.05% 58.50%Female 38.60 25.23 46.63Total M+F 48.22 39.60 52.36

In general the employment rates for males is higher than females except for the age-group 10-19, again reflecting the high incidence of child-labour at a time when this age-group should be in schools. On the other hand the employment rates of males more than double the females in the urban areas and is substantially higher at both the rural and national levels.

11.7. Unemployment

In both urban and rural areas, the males constitute the greatest proportion of the unemployed and the in both urban and rural areas the age-group 20-24 years constitute the highest with unemployed males constituting 31.80% and 24.68% respectively in comparison to the unemployed females of 30.64% and 21.32% for urban and rural areas respectively (Population and Housing Census 1993, CSD). In this regard employment policies should put focus on this gender disparity in the unemployment rates, which shows very high differences.

Females in the rural areas however constitute the least unemployed persons. This means that they are more fully employed than men in these rural areas who have a higher unemployment rates in the rural areas.

11.8. Occupational Distribution of Economically Active Population

Based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) occupation is defined as that kind of work done by the economically active person. The following Table (43) shows the Distribution of Occupations by Economic Activity. The table shows that for all ages those engaged in Agriculture and Skilled crop producers form the greatest proportion of 50.61% and the bulk of the persons some 72.9% are aged 30-50. For Service workers, the age-group bracket 20-44 constitutes the vast majority , 72.6%.

The distribution of occupations among the economically active shows that the dominant feature of the workforce consist of unskilled workers and are largely concentrated in agricultural work which is labour intensive with minuscule mechanization. This feature of the labour force is hardly the ideal base for a society that

“aims to transform itself into a into a financial, a tourist paradise, a trading, export oriented agricultural and manufacturing nation, thriving on free market policies, and a vibrant private sector, sustained by a well educated, trained, skilled, healthy, self-reliant and enterprising population, and guaranteeing a well balanced eco-system and a decent standard of living for one and all”. (VISION 2020)

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Table 43: Percentage Distribution of Occupations by Economic Activity

Occupation % Share

Legislators and Managers 0.34

Professionals 1.92

Technicians and Associated Professionals 3.31

Clerks 1.82

Services, Market and Sales workers 13.48

Crop Production and Skilled Agriculture 50.61

Fisheries workers 1.74

Crafts and Related Trade workers 10.12

Plant and Machine Operators 3.99

Elementary occupations 7.45

Others 0.30

In order to achieve the above stated objectives in Vision 2020 the features of the distribution of the occupations for economically active must be radically altered to feature high proportion of persons in the work force in the categories of Legislators and managers which is only 0.34%, Professionals only 1.92%, Technicians only 3.31% and Clerks only 1.82%, Plant and Machine operators only 3.99%, levels that can hardly be described as adequate for a modernizing and emerging economy that is targeted at reducing poverty.

11.9. Education Manpower Training and Productive Work

Education may be defined as the transfer of ideas, knowledge, attitudes, and values to other persons. Everyone gets something from education. We are all promoters, beneficiaries, subjects and objects of education. The negative impacts of education may be described as the negative influences of learned behaviour from other persons on us, which makes us victims of education (Obanya 1999). This concept of education goes beyond formal schooling and includes non-formal or out of school education.

Education also includes socially generated opportunities for developing human attitudes for self-improvement and societal progress.

Linking education with manpower requirements, training and supply is the primary objective of human resources development for sustainable economic development. The basic thrust of a human resource development policy is to expand the supply of highly skilled and knowledgeable manpower for the development of a knowledge-based economy. This would require increasing access to quality and relevant education and training to enhance income generation capabilities of persons for a better quality of life. Human resources development therefore should remain a priority in support of Vision 2020, which calls for a highly skilled trained, knowledgeable labour-force.

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Improving the quality of education also requires improvements in the quality of teaching and learning materials, teacher training and educational support services at all levels. It also includes the improvement of the training delivery system and the relevance of the content of training to ensure that the supply of manpower is in line with technological changes and labour market demand. It also includes life-long learning to enhance employability and productivity of the labour force.

Increasing and rapid technological changes requires the adaptation of training to new skill needs. The predominant role of Information and Communications Technology under contemporary ICT and modern technology based economies mean that more emphasis should be placed on science and technology manpower training.

11.10. Productive Work

The term “Productive work” has evolved overtime from meaning pure physical labour outputs to include mental outputs and ideas as among the factors of production and productive work. The problem of unemployment as it relates to the products of the school system has influenced issues about the need to enable young persons in, particular the graduate from the school to possess directly saleable and useable skills. This concern has led to the increasing vocationalization of education to relate the content and methods of education to the demands of the labour market. This links education to employability, which depends not only on the demands of the labour market but also to the absorptive capacity of the economy of directly useable and saleable skills.

There are several ways of linking education and manpower supply. One way is to look at the total economically active persons and the proportion that attended schooling and at what levels of the education system they reached. This is the general classification used by the CSD. Another way is to design a Labour Market Intelligence and Reporting System, (LMIRS) which further aggregate the labour force beyond levels of education to actual educational qualifications of job occupants and relevance of the qualifications to the skills required to perform the job. In the absence of the availability of the latter system, this study uses the broad categories of levels of education to link education and manpower training. The study goes further to identify the problems associated with linking education to manpower training and supply and offer directions for creating more meaningful links between the two dependent activities for sustainable development. Productive work may therefore be defined as that type of work, which is creative of new ideas, news ways of looking at issues both mentally and physically.

11.11. Educational Attainment and Occupational Status

A proportional distribution of the economically active persons by educational attainment shows, that there are more economically active persons in job categories that need less education. The following table (44) shows educational attainment and occupational status (population and Housing Census, Economic Characteristic, Vol. 7 1993). It can be observed from the table (44) that as educational attainments rises there is less proportion of economically active persons. This is a reflection of the low literacy and skill levels that exist in the country. If higher economic development and performance is to be attained, this low literacy and low skill levels of the labour force must be corrected through the refocusing of educational resources and upgrading of the educational levels of the labour force beyond the illiterate and primary school levels to secondary and tertiary education levels.

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Table 44: Distribution of Economically Active by Educational Attainment and Gender

Occupation None Primary Secondary Post Secondary OthersLegislator and Manager

Male Female0.06 0.02

Male Female0.14 0.04

Male Female0.56 0.22

Male Female4.84 3.43

Male Female0.21 0.06

Professionals 0.51 0.08 0.25 0.11 3.78 7.13 21.11 23.93 1.27 0.29Technicians and Assoc.Professionals 2.41 0.25 2.61 0.39 9.97 13.97 18.34 17.02 4.82 0.43Clerks 0.21 0.04 0.34 0.26 7.81 15.10 12.91 24.90 0.51 0.12Service and Market Sales Workers

13.28 9.74 15.38 19.10 26.74 27.07 17.60 15.73 13.57 7.58

Crop producers and Skilled Agric. Workers 48.94 74.28 20.42 40.94 6.58 6.83 3.07 1.70 50.80 82.82Fisheries Workers 2.98 0.35 3.29 0.49 1.74 0.33 0.77 0.07 2.24 0.20Craft and Related Trade Workers 15.01 1.93 30.69 3.57 16.61 3.24 8.47 2.74 13.39 1.10Plant and Machine Operators 6.35 0.51 11.50 0.86 6.00 0.58 2.47 0.48 5.02 0.17Elementary Occupations 6.63 9.10 7.62 24.48 5.38 8.97 2.71 2.53 5.29 4.55Others 0.06 0.01 0.37 0.00 3.19 0.07 1.46 0.00 0.06 0.00Not Stated 3.54 3.68 7.38 9.77 11.64 16.48 6.26 7.46 2.82 2.68

The table further shows that the greater proportion of the labour force fall under the category of Crop producers and skilled agricultural producers, service workers and craft workers. Over all this category of workers have no basic skills or education. In fact non-educated males and females together constitute 72.3% of the economically active population and of the non-educated females 84.8% are found in agriculture. This large proportion of non-educated persons in the labour force poses the biggest challenge in transforming the economy into a knowledge-based and technologically oriented economy backed by Information and Communications technology as envisioned in VISION 2020. For more detailed analysis of literacy and illiteracy see the section on Adult and Non-Formal education.

The proportion of the population that have acquired primary education are found mainly in the Service workers category and agriculture for both males and females and females with primary education having a higher proportion than those with secondary education taking up the least with 16.55% of the economically active persons.

For post secondary level, the highest proportions are Professionals of which makes are 21.11% and females 23.93%, then Technicians and Associated Professionals, 18.34% for males and 17.02% for females and followed by Clerical Workers, 12.91% for males and 24.90% for females.

The above analysis of educational attainment and occupational status is a true reflection of the level of educational outputs at the various levels of the education system. The high illiteracy rate is reflected in the high proportion of illiterates in the labour force. The limited access to secondary and post secondary education are also reflected in the limited proportion

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of secondary and tertiary level education in the work force. Limited access at this level of the education system is due to the limited capacity of the training institutions to produced in greater numbers the amount of highly educated and highly skilled labour force needed to achieve the objectives stated in Vision 2020.

11.12. Conclusions: Constraints, Challenges and Recommendations.

There are major factors that are impeding the progress of the link between education and productive work in the Gambia. First there is the problem of the under-production of trained manpower as reflected in the high illiteracy rate of the work force and large percentage of economically active persons who only attained primary education. This also means that there are very limited qualified persons or not enough numbers to go into the different occupational levels of an expanding economy. Second there is also the problem of under production of suitable manpower. Suitable qualified persons in key scientific and technological areas are acutely lacking. This is compounded by their low distribution and high attrition rate from the various services, particularly, from government service.

In times of slow or low economic growth or stagnation and in times of retrenchment when the economy can no longer afford to pay qualified manpower, education and manpower training become victims of the vicissitudes of the unpredictable socio-economic forces which usually determines the use to which educated persons can put their skills. On the basis of the information and analysis the following recommendations are put forward

Reduce the illiterate in particular those of women in rural communities

Increasing the number of secondary school leavers into the agricultural labour force to reduce the preponderance of female primary level or illiterates in the labour force

For a modernizing economy with a global vision the proportion of the professional, managerial and technical categories in the work force must be substantial increase to lift the country from a largely agrarian economy to one of new technologies, especially in the service and ICT industries.

There is also the need to expand secondary and tertiary level education to allow for the upgrading of the educational quality of the national labour force. This is because the current institutions are inadequate in numbers to produce the required numbers from these institutions such as the GTTI MDI, Gambia College and The University of the Gambia

There is the need to upgrade the status of the National Training Authority not only to monitor training at the vocational and technical education level but actually to advise and determine investment levels in vocational and technical education and training. In this regard there is a large scope for private/public sector partnership and private sector participation in the delivery of vocational and technical education.

In order to link education to demands of the work place, there is an urgent need to set up a Labour Intelligence Monitoring system (LIMS) to provide labour intelligence that can be used to influence the focus of education on market demands. In the absence of such a data link it would be difficult to actually determine the number of persons and the qualifications required for the different levels of the occupational

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ladder. This type of database is not currently available in the Gambia. In fact at the time of completion of this Review in September 2004, The National Population and Household Census have not yet been published.

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CHAPTER 12: SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

12. Conclusions:

The outcomes of these analyses form the information base for the recommendations and proposed action plan provided in the matrix and as part of a vital input to the MTP. The analyses reveals past sector performance and achievements as well as dysfunctional features of the system that affect the effective delivery of education for the attainment of some of the critical goals of access, quality, efficiency, relevance equity and affordability as stated in the education policies. On the basis of the information key issues of gender equity, regional disparities, manpower and teacher supply, affordability and quality of education are also analyzed and highlighted in the study as areas that would require attention in the Plan period. The challenges for expansion at the secondary, tertiary and vocational education and training levels in order to enable the training institutions to provide the required educated man power is also analyzed to highlight the relationship between institutional capacity and the expected outputs from these institutions to meet manpower demands of a developing and modernizing technology based economy.

Priorities and targets have changed since the 1990s, and old and new issues and challenges have been identified. In fact during the Policy dialogue process, the participation of all stakeholders, including children, adults, illiterates, literates, government departments, civil society and private sector representatives, including NGOS, teachers, parents, all over the country through a variety of regional conferences, television and radio programmes discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the Education Policy 1988 – 2003, and to use the information as inputs in the new Education Policy 2004 2015.

In general most of the major objectives in Policy were achieved. Increased access at the Basic Education level has been substantially achieved through increases in primary school classroom constructions and use of double shift system. Recently the DOSE launched several strategies to accelerate the achievement of the targets. The enrolment rate targets for 1996 of 5% was exceeded by 3% although the 2003 enrolment rate target of 6.8% growth was not achieved as only 4% was achieved, showing a decline of 4% in enrolment growth from the 1996 achieved target.

It should be noted that the Primary level GER target of 65% in 1996 was exceeded by 5% to record 70% whiles the primary GER target for 2003 of 93% was not achieved as 70% GER was achieved.

12.1. Basic Education

12.1.1 Early Childhood Care and Education

With shift in policy, ECD is now part of the basic education cycle. This is in recognition of the importance of early years of development for children. In this context ECD must be seen as now being within the priority programme areas.

A Diagnostic Evaluation of Day Care Centers in the Gambia (June 1996) indicates that there was a rapid growth in the number of ECD centers. These centers increased from 125 in 1995 to 265 in 1998 or an increase of 106%. The issues and challenges of regional disparities, low

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enrolment rates, low utilization of existing resources, over-concentration of ECD centers in Regions 1 and 2, and poor distribution of centers, lack of affordability, and continuing traditional practices of keeping the child out of school well over the entry age still remains and challenges to ECD. A large percentage of the age group 3 – 6 is still out of school.

Although the ECD centers have increased substantially, there are vast regional disparities. The high proportion of enrolment of ECD children in Regions 1 and 2 is probably due to the high demand in the urban centers, and since ECD is demand driven, its provision is consequently concentrated in urban and peril-urban areas, with large working populations outside the traditional subsistence activities.

There are however very critical constraints and challenges that would have to be addressed by policy and strategies that would enhance the achievement of the targets set for basic education. For example, increases in GER in the basic cycle to 100% by the end of the policy period 2016 will depend on increases on the GER at the ECD level within the same planned period.

12.2. Lower Basic (Primary Education)

12.2.1. Conclusions

The main objectives of the Education Policy for the lower basic cycle are namely to increase access, improve quality, efficiency and relevance, reduce the gender disparity through the promotion of girls education and ensure equity. The above review and analysis of the policies, strategies, measures, and objectives shows that significant achievements have been recorded especially in the area of general access and increasing access for girls. The detailed review and analysis of the AIR, the GER and the NER shows that significant progress has been made in these areas in the 1990s. The AIR grew at annual rate of 8% compared to the target of 5% from 1990 to 1996. However from 1996/97 to 2000/2001, the AIR grew at a rate of 4% per annum instead of the targeted 7% per annum for the same period. At the national level the number of new entrants has been on the increase from 61.7% in 1991/92 to 76.3% in 1998/1999. Nevertheless these figures show that some 30% of the cohort group and 50% of girls in the same cohort group were out of school. In 1994/95 some 16.2% of both males and females of the 7 years old were out of school and this increased to 33% in 1998/1999. These trends are counter-productive to the policy objective of increasing access and must be seen as challenges to the expansion of access. One major challenge remains the large regional disparities in enrolment as reflect in the regional NER disparities.

12.3 Upper Basic School Education

12.3.1. Conclusions

The policies, strategies and objectives for the Upper Basic School level are similar to those formulated for the primary school level. These are namely access, relevance, quality, performance, and efficiency and affordability with emphasis on girls’ education and program priorities based on addressing regional variances and gender disparities. Key policy targets from 1996 – 2000 for the upper basic level included amongst others, the merging of the primary and lower secondary school into a unified basic education cycle, without a transition examinations.

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A substantial increase in access to this level of the education system has been achieved. In 1992/1993 there were 22 Upper Basic Schools, which had a total enrolment of 17,174. In 2001/2002 the total number of Upper Basic Schools increased to 114 with an enrolment of 45,973, excluding Madrassa enrolments. Over the years 1996 to 2000 the number of government schools have also increased from 27 to 64 while the number of grant– aided schools increased from 20 to 38. Similar to the lower basic level government still provides the bulk of education at the Upper Basic level. Out of the total number of 114 Upper Basic Schools, 70 are public, 39 are private, 11 are grant-aided and 1 is local government agreement. Over 80% of the children are enrolled in public grant – aided or local agreement schools.

Based on the information and analysis, substantial growth has occurred at the UBS level. Average annual growth in enrolment from 1996 to 2000 was 19%, which exceeded the target of 12.7%. Similarly the male GER increased by 13 percentage points from 36% to 49% whiles the female GER increased from 26% to 37% or 11 percentage points. The proportion of girls still lags behind boys.

The inability to furnish the UBS with adequate equipment and resources to offer practical subjects and training in metalwork, woodwork and other relevant vocational skills is a major constraint and challenge for the future development of skills training at this level.

The gross female enrolment ratio is still well below those of the male. In this regard there is great need to improve girls access at this level of the school system since it is the level where one needs to complete to transit to SSS.

There are vast regional and gender disparities in the provision of UBS education. Whereas Regions 5 and 6 recorded total enrolment of 8,681 or (%) and 7,447, or (%) the total enrolment in Regions 1 and 2 from the same period are 16, 400 or (%) of total enrolled and 19, 506 or (%) of total enrolled respectively. In all the regions, the percentage of females enrolled in UBS failed to reach 50%.

Gender and regional disparities including regional disparities in the supply of qualified female teachers needs to be addressed as this leads to lack of gender role models at the rural level in the form of female school teachers.

12.4. MADRASSA

12.4.1 Conclusions

The structure of the Madrassa is similar to the conventional school system (ECE, Primary, Junior, and Senior Secondary). The Madrassa are now part of Basic Education Programme, although there are Madrassa at the SSS level. They follow the national school curriculum and offer mathematics, history, geography and general science in Arabic. English language is also offered as a complement to Arabic but this is not given much emphasis in the Madrassa.

In 2001/2002 there were 164 Madrassa Lower Basic Schools with a total enrolment of 31,377 compared to 317 primary schools with a total enrolment of 163,996. Girls constitute 42% of enrolment in Madrassa Lower Basic Schools compared to 48% in primary schools

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There are large Regional variations in Madrassa lower basic education. Madrassa Lower Basic Schools are largely concentrated in Region 4 with 30 schools, Regions 5, with 55 schools, and Region 6, with 23 schools.

The low average enrolment per institution suggests that there is a need for the rationalization of the spread of Madrassa schools. Many parents particularly in the rural areas prefer to send their girl child to Madrassa than to the conventional schools for religious and other reasons related to anti-modernization attitudes.

The increasing enrolments in Madrassa schools and the significant role this system of education play in the delivery of education services suggest that there is an urgent need to asses the quality of education in this area. This would include a survey of quality and qualifications of teachers in the Madrassa system and the strengthening of in-service and pre-service training for Madrassa teachers. The DOSE, the Association of Madrassa, the General Secretariat for Arabic Education and ISESCO have conducted a series of in-service and attempts are being made to synchronized the syllabus and textbooks with the normal schools but this is mainly concentrated on teachers teaching Islamic studies in government schools. This suggests a need to introduce standardization and quality improvements in Madrassa education.

There is also the need to widen Madrassa education to include vocational and skills training. This would contribute greatly towards enhancing the relevance of Madrassa education and also towards the human resource development of the country.

12.5. Adult and Non-Formal Education

12.5.1. Conclusions

The Education Policy provides for non-formal education to encompass early childhood education, special needs education, (both to encourage central role of mothers and the family) and mass literacy, adult education targeted at mainly adult women, out-of-school girls and adolescence. The aim of the non-formal education program is to use integrated functional literacy linked with relevant social, economic, technical, and institutional needs for development.

Adult and Non-formal Education Programmes are also designed in accordance with the ecological, social, economic, social and cultural characteristics of various geographical regions of the country. In the rural areas ANFED programme take into account the way of life and techniques employed by those engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, health, environment, income generating activities and awareness creation on matters concerned with local governance for sustainable development. In the urban areas the focus is on critical issues of urban life such as income generation, environmental sanitation and protection, literacy, numeracy, civic education with indigenous languages featuring across all the training programmes.

Adequate statistical data and information for trend analysis on ANFED is not yet available as ANFED is yet to set a comprehensive database on this programme. However, following on the decentralization programme, ANFED data is now being collected at the regional offices but theses are yet to be collated for use by planners or other stakeholders.

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The strategic objective of the Literacy component of the CSIP is geared towards poverty alleviation. Its main objective is to provide functional literacy/numeracy skills to 40, 000 beneficiaries of 80% of them are women and 20% to out-of-school youths 250 CSIP selected communities in the seven local Government areas between 2001 –2006 with monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to be put in place. Other strategic components include the decentralization of co-ordination and management to the Regional Directorates; partnership and collaboration with stakeholders; improving capacity for literacy personnel, provision of leaning materials, sensitization and mobilization of community participation. (DO

It is however difficult to state exactly the actual number of participants in non-formal literacy programs across the country due to lack of organized and reliable data. The figures used in this review are therefore based on the 1993 Population and Housing Census and EFA 2000 Assessment. It should be noted at the time of writing this review, the Population and Housing census have not yet been published for the year 2003, although the census have already been conducted.

The total literacy rate for the age group 15 – 24 for the period 1991 –1998 has actually declined from 48% in 1991 to 47.5% in 1998. The male literacy rate declined from 60.9% in 1991 to 58.4% in 1998, whiles the female literacy rate declined from 35.7% to 37.1% in the same period. (EFA 2000 Assessment). There are also very vast differences in the literacy rates by region. For example where as the literacy rate in Region 1 in 1998 was 55.1% for male and female combined, the rate in Region 6 was 25% only. These figures show that there is still a large number of the population who are not accessing to educational services and as such are potential clients and indeed priority targets for ANFED programme.

There are several constraints and challenges that face non-formal education in the Gambia that needs to be addressed. The budgetary allocation for non-formal education is very low, about 0.5% of the total DOSE budget.

12.6. SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL EDUCATION

12.6.1. Conclusions

Significant progress has been achieved in the expansion of access to Senior Secondary education. In 1990/91, there were only 12 SSSs with a total enrolment of 6,334.In 1995/1996, this increased to 21 SSSs with the total enrolment of 11,407. In 2001/2002 the number of schools increased to 37 with a total enrolment of (excluding Madrassa) 17,181, and to 17,537, (including Madrassa) enrolment. Well over 50% of the SSSs are grant-aided, a financial subsidy granted mainly to religious mission schools, which is a heavy public sector expenditure component in the delivery of secondary education. There are only 356 student enrolled in Madrassa SSSs. From 1996 and 2000, secondary enrolment increased from 11, 981 to 15, 165 students, resulting in an increase in gross enrolment ratio (GER) from 15% in 1996 to about 18%. In year 2001/2002 the GER increased to 21%. For girls it is much lower, at 14% (boys 22%).

The percentage of female enrolment has increase to 26% in 1990/91 and to 36% in 1995/96.That is a 10% increase over five-year period or an annual increase of 2%. In year 2001/2002 the percentage of female enrolment declined to 34%.

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There are serious regional and gender disparities to access and in the distribution of qualified teachers and female teacher participation. Out of the total number of 37 schools 19 or over 50% are located in Region 1. Consequently, out of the total enrolment of 17,537, 10,343 were enrolled in Region 1 with a regional GER of 35%, whiles only 603 were enrolled in Region 6 with a regional GER of 5%.

The number of Gambian teachers at this level is only156 or 25% of the total teacher stock. This illustrates the high dependence on foreign teachers largely from the sub-region.

12.7 Improvement of Relevance Quality and Affordability

12.7.1 Conclusions

Relevance quality and affordability remain primary objectives for the provision of education, both at the Basic and Secondary levels and at all levels in all programmes.

Relevance and quality are also related to the type of curriculum and whether the curriculum will adequately prepare the student for higher education or the world of work. In this regard, the teaching syllabus at both the basic education and Senior Secondary Schools have been review and adapted to provide relevant education with emphasis on the development of a critical understanding knowledge application, problem solving skills, manipulative skills, good citizenship and environmental education across are levels. Quality, relevance, and affordability remain the biggest challenges of the education system in the country. The high proportion of failures at the Junior Secondary Certificate examination must be worrying, and indeed the low-grade level of those passing is an indication of inadequate teaching/learning quality. Girls in particular seem to have a much higher failure rate than boys. Quality indicators on learning achievements at the lower basic level show a growing need to improve the learning achievement of children.

Teacher education and training are strategies generally put in place to improve the quality of education. The education policy recognizes the teacher as the pilot and conduit of the students’ learning experiences in gaining knowledge, attitudes and skills that are provided in the curriculum.

The poor or ill –preparation of teachers in the past has some undesirable effects in the delivery system. One main problem facing teacher education is the inability of the teacher training system to respond quickly to the difficult task of training teachers to handle the increasingly complex process of education in the context of limited and competing resources. This being so, the efficiency of the professional staff is crucial.

Through out the 1990s’ the number of teachers at the basic cycle has been on the increase. In 1991 there were 2,876 teachers and in 1998 the total increased to 4,448; that is an increase of more than 54%. A similar increase of 53.8% and 56.7% was recorded for male and female respectively over the same period.

The number of certified teachers has also increased by 107% over the period. The total number of certified teachers was 1,563 in 1991 and by 1998 this increased 3,239. In 1991, 54.3% of the teachers were certified compared to 73% by 1998. The proportion of qualified teachers continued to rise until 1995/96 when a sharp decline was experienced. The

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distribution of qualified teachers however is heavily skewed to the urban areas instead of the areas where they are most needed, namely the rural areas

12.8. Vocational Education And Technical Training.

12.8.1. Conclusions

The lack of reliable statistical details on vocational education technical training has made the planning and development of the sector difficult. There is no reliable data on the total enrolment in VET programmes or institutions nation-wide. It is however estimated that the total enrolment of students in VET is about 3,889. There are however large gender and regional disparities in the provision of VET

Recent developments in vocational education and technical training have shown a shift from the traditional training approach to emphasis the entrepreneurship and self -development. This objective is to promote self-employment prospects for graduates of VET.

The facilities at the GTTI have now been expanded to allow for an enrolment level of 1500 from the original planned 300 student capacity full time students. Today the enrolment level has reached the 1000 students mark. It began operations in 1983 by providing craft level courses in a variety of technical and commercial subjects through the City and Guilds of the London Institute (GGLI) and the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and Pitman qualifications respectively.

12.9. Tertiary Level Education

12.9.1. Conclusions

The major objectives of tertiary education in the Gambia are to enhance the human resource development capacity of the country in response to labour market needs, and to provide relevant sustainable and high quality tertiary education and research to support socio-economic, scientific and technological advances and development and the promotion of excellence in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. It is aimed at producing a human resource base that can provide intellectual leadership to emergence of a nation committed to democratic ideals and a country that is socially, culturally, economically and politically self-reliant.

Tertiary education is targeted to widen and deepen education gained in secondary and post secondary education, and to develop special knowledge/skills/training for gainful employment. It is also targeted to conduct research relevant to economic and social development and to make research results available for national development. The main issues in tertiary education development are mainly related to manpower demand and supply, cost benefits/cost effectiveness and feasibility of programs. Tertiary education institutions in the Gambia are therefore established on the basis of specific manpower requirements.

Significant strides have been made in the provision of tertiary level education in this Country. The establishment of the University of the Gambia was not only a giant step forward in the development of tertiary level education but also an innovative step in that the University was established without a main campus and functions by using existing facilities and structures in other tertiary institutions. With the addition of the UTG into the education system, the

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number of students that now enroll in tertiary institutions have increased. In deed one may postulate that university education is beginning to have a demand effect on tertiary level education.

These indicators show that a real concerted effort is needed to increase the stock level of tertiary students, especially at the senior secondary level and in deed at all levels to address the acute gender and regional disparities in the supply of qualified manpower. The current low level of graduates per annum from the tertiary training institutions and programmes is inadequate to address the current shortage of qualified and highly trained manpower. In other words the training capacities of the tertiary institutions in terms of available space and resources to increase student enrolment are limited. Thus the introduction of Distance Learning in teacher education at the Gambia College and at the University of the Gambia are seen as innovative moves and approaches that address the key issue of access to tertiary education. This sub-sector in the education system is however largely handicapped by the limited funds allocated to tertiary education. Consequently the opportunities for expansion in these training institutions to increase student intakes are very limited.

The concentration of programmes in employable areas such as teacher training, medicine, nursing, agriculture, public health, science, humanities and social sciences, economics and management, business studies, engineering and construction, public health, computer Science in the tertiary institutions demonstrate compliance with relevance to the manpower training needs and demands of this Country.

Tertiary level education however is faced with many constraints and challenges. These include the limited nature of public funding for tertiary level education compared to the other levels of education; limited institutional management capacity of training institutions; high degree of dependence on expatriate staff and over-concentration in the Urban areas of Regions 1 and Region 2.

12.10. FINANCING THE EDUCATION SECTOR

12.10.1 Conclusions

The new Education Policy 2004 – 2015 is premised on both the national Vision 2020 and the PRSP with the aim of improving the human capital of the country by reducing the number of people living below the poverty line. From the 1990s to the early twenty-first century, total government expenditure reflects an increased public spending in education. The share of education, out of total government spending (excluding debt servicing) increased from 24% in 1998 to 25% in 2001 and represented about 16% of recurrent expenditure and had increased from 3.2% of GDP to 4.1% of GDP in 1999, 6.3% in 2000 and further to 6.8% in 2001. (PERS 2001), but this however compares unfavourably to an average of 20% for Sub-Saharan Africa.

The share of Basic education increased from 57% in 1998 to 63% in 2004. The increases in spending were due to the accelerated expansion at the Basic education level, in particular, at the Upper basic level, which enabled the sector to achieve the growth targets set for each level of the education except for ANFED and TVET. Expenditure on Basic education increased at an annual average rate of 11% between 1998 and 2004. This also reflected the rapid increases in enrolment during this period. The share of Senior Secondary School

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actually declined from 14.5% in 1998 to 11% in 2001 declining by 2.3% per annum over the period.

Spending on the category of “quality” in the form of in-service and pre-service teacher training at Gambia College increased 7% per year over the period 1998 to 2001.

The development expenditure on education is largely resourced from donor funding in the form of grants and loans. Government counter-part fund is approximately around 10% (or less) of total development budget. This limited government contribution to development budget spending reflects a heavy reliance on external support for the development of the sector

Out of the total development budget of D 1,683,129,102 estimated for the year 2004 the Education sector got D 293,529,174 or 18% , being the second highest and mainly allocated for, Construction and Infrastructure and was higher than the development allocations for Agriculture and Health .

The distribution of expenditure across the Education services demonstrates both priority areas and the levels of funding. It should however be noted that as these levels indicate priorities, so do they reflect the extent of their adequacy or inadequacy to meet sub-sectoral demands. The small allocations given to Senior Secondary Schools, of only 11% of total education recurrent budget, and, tertiary level education, vocational education and technical training, adult education, and standards and quality control are not commensurable to the resources required for the achievement of stated policy goals such as the expansion of enrolment and access at the Senior Secondary School level, Tertiary education, elimination of illiteracy, through adult education and the development of vocational education and training.

Salaries and grants-in aid together constitute 78.4% of total government spending on education and grant-in-aid to schools alone constitutes about 25% government recurrent expenditure. A substantial amount of the grant-aided subventions are allocated to Christian and Muslim Mission schools in the basic and senior secondary levels to meet the salaries of teachers and other personnel within the schools and institutions and not to the public school, which claim to be highly under-resourced.

The vast amounts of financial resources allocated to salaries are in sharp contrast to the meager amounts allocated to material resources such as books and learning materials 1.8% in 2001, operations and maintenance 3.9% of education assets, which constitute some 69% of civil works, not to mention the operational and maintenance of the fleet of vehicles under DOSE and under the Regional Directors.

12.11 Education Sector Management

12.11.1 Conclusions

The success of any education policy would largely depend on the effectiveness of the Management and organizational structures that are in place and mandated to carry-out the national mission of providing, promoting, developing, planning, monitoring and coordinating all resources put into the sector. This role amongst others lies with DOSE.

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The Education Policy 1988 2003 had amongst its aims and objectives, the restructuring of and broadening the management of the DOSE with strong emphasis on decentralization. This includes the creation of the six regional offices, which has now been upgraded to regional directorates. Accountability and performance standards have now been set for all officers at DOSE.

The DOSE has been restructured into a directorate system at both headquarters and at the regional level with the latter now over sighting sub-sector activities in the respective regions. Decentralization measures are now well established with the regional directorates in place. Both the EMIS and GIS are now in place and sector managers can now access to information about Education either through the DOSE website or at headquarters where a proficient data base has been set up at the Planning Directorate.

The management of the education system has undergone significant reforms in line with the new demands of the sector as outlined in the policy documents. The DOSE itself continues to undergo transformation with capacity building as the major strategic policy focus for programme implementation. All directorates are structured around programmes that are contained in the Education Policy. The decentralization of the management system and the upgrading of the regional offices to directorate levels are achievements in institutional capacity building. Similarly, the re-structuring of the DOSE with directorates structured around programmes must also be seen as a rational approach to educational management that optimizes upon the expertise and professionalism of the officers in the various programme areas they are specialized in. All these reforms have helped in improving the quality of management of the education system.

There are however constraints that the management of the sector is still faced with. The decentralization programme appears not to be fully resourced to make all the Regional directorates to be fully functional. The high attrition rate of well trained staff both at management and at school levels undermines the degree of professionalism and efficiency of management of the education system resulting to low implementation rates, poor supervision of activities especially the management of teacher supply and issues of quality in schools.

Other constraints or weaknesses in the management of the sector include regional disparities in resources, staffing, implementation rate, supervision and monitoring, affecting performance, especially at school level, low disbursement rate of budgets funds, which sometimes lead to under-utilization of budget funds, deficient budget procedures, malfunctioning or ineffective committees and boards such as the Scholarship Trust Fund and the Regional Committees which are not currently functioning

12.12. Primary Tertiary Education System Man Power Training Needs

12.12.1. Conclusions

The Mission Statement of the DOSE and Vision 2020 objectives are identical, namely, the development of a highly skilled trained and knowledgeable and productive human resource for the country. In order to increase the supply of skilled and trained manpower, it is necessary to increase the capacity in education and training institutions and the current demand is for higher skills for the economy and as envisaged in Vision 2020. These developments will move the country towards a high capital intensive and technology-based production economic system.

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The link therefore between education and manpower is that the former plays the role of producing the critical mass of trained, skilled and knowledgeable manpower to support economic growth. Although the Gambia is ranked 151st position out of the 174 countries in the UN Human Development Index Report 2003, the last three decades witnessed improvements in human development as evidence in increases in life expectancy and literacy.

However a proportional distribution of the economically active persons by educational attainment shows, that there are more economically active persons in job categories that need less education and that the majority of the labour force in the agricultural sector, the leading industry, are illiterates

There are major factors that are impeding the progress of the link between education and productive work in the Gambia. First there is the problem of the under-production of manpower as reflected in the high illiteracy rate of the work force and large percentage of economically active persons who only attained primary education. This also means that there are very limited qualified persons or not enough numbers to go into the different occupational levels of an expanding economy. Second there is also the problem of under production of suitable manpower. Suitable qualified persons in key scientific and technological areas are acutely lacking. This is compounded by their low distribution and high attrition rate from the various services, particularly from government service.

In order to link education to demands of the work place, there is an urgent need to set up a Labour Intelligence Monitoring system (LIMS) to provide labour intelligence that can be used to influence the focus of education on market demands. In the absence of such a data link it would be difficult to actually determine the number of persons and the qualifications required for the different levels of the occupational ladder.

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CHAPTER 13: RECOMMENDATIONS

13.1 BASIC EDUCATION

13.1.1 Recommendations

Eliminate the female and male enrolment disparities

Reduce the large regional disparities in enrolment

Provide more class-room space to capture the 30% or so 7 years olds who do not have access at the moment

Provide ECD level in Public basic education school as part of Basic Education programme covered by basic education objectives of increasing access.

Focus on increasing the NIR, which has been on a slow growth rate since it is most precise instrument of measuring access.

Continue to give priority promotion of increasing enrolment of girls

Focus should continue to be placed on increasing enrolment levels and rates at Regions 5 and 6 where low enrolment rates are still being experienced in the non-Madrassa lower formal system.

Increase to access to UBS at the remote areas in Regions 5 and 6 to reduce regional disparities

Encourage and promote private sector participation in the provision of UBS

Increase the GER at UBS from 43% in 2000 to above 50% by 2009

Reduce the gender disparity in access to UBS by ensuring a 50% enrolment of girls and increase the GER of females at the UBS level

13.2 ADULT AND NON-FORMAL EDUCATION

13.2.1 Recommendations

Increased the budgetary and resource allocation to the Adult and Non-formal education service;

Include English as a priority language in adult and non-formal education to promote literacy in the national official language;

Develop and improve the supply of trained adult and non-formal education teachers and animators;

Expand ANFED activities in the urban areas to capture non-literates and out of school youths for continuing education and technical skills training;

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Design and establish a standardized ANFED curriculum that is applicable nationwide and that is relevant to the occupational needs of participants and targets;

Increase ANFED participants by 50% of current illiteracy by year 2010;

Encourage NGO and private sector participation in the delivery of adult and non-formal education service;

Improve and establish more ANFED learning centers and learning materials;

Introduce child-mother integrated ANFED services in child-mother friendly centers and environment.

Introduce non-gender biased and vocational skills for ANFED participants.

Put priority on ANFED as part of the Basic Education Programme

Set annual enrolment targets for ANFED,

13.3 Senior Secondary School Education

13.3.1 Recommendations

Increase the gross enrolment to SSSs particularly for girls

Increase the transition rate by 50% in the next five years from grade 9 to 10

Increasing the number of secondary schools nationwide to correspond to the anticipated increase in access

Encourage and expand the participation of Madrassa education providers in SSS level education

Promote and encourage private sector participation in the provision of secondary education

Spread the distribution of and provision of SSS level education away from Region 1 to allow for a more equitable provision of secondary education between urban and rural areas

Increase the participation of female teachers at the SSS level

Increase the proportion of Gambian teachers at the SSSs in order to reduce the heavy dependence on foreign teachers.

Expand and consolidated the teaching of ITC at secondary schools to ensure relevance to current emergent labour market demands

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Reduce the regional and gender disparities by promoting girls’ enrolment and retention in secondary schools.

13.4 Improvement Of Relevance Quality And Affordability

13.4.1 Recommendations

Introduce practical and employable life skills vocation and technical training programmes in all secondary and tertiary level education to ensure relevance

Increase the percentage of qualified and specialist teachers by increasing teacher-training outputs from Gambia College, GTTI and at the University of the Gambia

Increasing the enrolment capacities of the training institutions namely, GTTI, Gambia College and the University of the Gambia to ensure that the required manpower is provided

Increase the proportion of female teacher participation to ensure gender equity and parity in the education system

Reduce the regional disparities in annual GER growth rates to attain the national average for all regions.

13.5 Vocational Education and Technical Training

13.5.1 Recommendations

Improve the management capacity of the NTA to ensure a rational and efficient delivery of VET

Encourage private sector provision of VET through private/public sector partnerships and through tax incentives

Improve monitoring of VET training programmes and training institutions

Increase the proportion of technical teachers in the teaching force by promoting technical teacher education

Increase the enrolment capacities of the Gambia College, GTTI, and the University of the Gambia in order to increase access to tertiary education, which is paramount in the training and provision of a higher level manpower and expertise

Reduce the huge gender disparity in access to VET by promoting gender equity and female participation in skills training and tertiary level education

Target the out of school youths for skills center training in order to reduce youth unemployment

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Put priority on VET at the secondary school levels by establishing training workshops in secondary schools to enable these schools to perform as secondary technical schools, including Senior Secondary Schools following the St Peters Technical Secondary School model in Lamin

De-concentrate the provision of VET from the urban areas of Regions 1 and 2 and expand it to the rural areas.

13.6 Tertiary Level Education

13.6.1 Recommendations

Increase the capacity of tertiary institutions to enable them to increase their enrolment capacity and access to tertiary education

Create meaningful links between tertiary/training institutions to promote institutional capacity building and programme support amongst them

Increase the funding levels of tertiary institutions commensurable to expected outputs from these institutions and based on manpower demands and projections

Develop and promote the use of Information and Communications Technologies in the service of education and distance learning

Promote staff training and professional development for staff in tertiary institutions Promote resource mobilization by tertiary institutions to support their budgets and ensure

sustainability

Make tertiary education affordable to all Gambians

Establish evaluation and monitoring mechanisms for the delivery of quality and relevant tertiary education

Reduce the gender disparity in the enrolment of students in tertiary institutions through the promotion of female participation and by increasing the retention of girls at the secondary education level to ensure completion and opportunity to transit to the next level, namely the tertiary level.

Decentralize tertiary level education by establishing some centers away from the urban areas and by promoting and encouraging extension programmes by the existing institutions and through out-reach programmes.

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13.7 Financing The Education Sector

13.7.1 Recommendations

Increase the financing of the education with emphasis on pro-poor strategies

Make senior secondary and tertiary level education more affordable

Increase the general budgetary allocations to DOSE so that sub-sector needs can be adequately meet and in line with expected sub-sector outputs

Increase allocations specifically to the under-resource sub-sectors, namely, senior secondary, tertiary, vet, non-formal education and quality related programmes

Control with a view to reduce the high component of the cost of personnel in education through regular staff audit exercises, elimination of unqualified teachers, reduction of Islamic teachers who constitute the bulk of the unqualified teachers

Increase the subventions to the tertiary institutions, namely, GTTI, Gambia College, the University of the Gambia so that these can expand their enrolment capacities and programmes in line with manpower demands of the economy

Encourage private sector participation through direct investment in the provision of schools and tertiary level institution either singularly or in partnership with government

Reduce the over-dependence on external sources of funding the education investment programmes as these may prove costly in the long run and jeopardize the development of the sector.

Rationalize the grant-in aid to school with the view to enabling grant-aided schools to generate their own income as is practiced currently by non-grant aided private schools. This will open up competition and perhaps encourage more private sector participation as the current practice of grant-in-aid promotes an unfair practice to the non-grant-aided private schools.

Increase budgetary allocations to girls education in order to ensure equity and gender parity at all levels of the education system and in all programmes

Conduct regular public expenditure reviews on the education sector to determine and monitor the effective utilization of resources put at the disposal of the sector

Devote adequate financial resources to the purchase and acquisition of learning and training materials

Decentralize the regional budgets to the regional directorates in line with the decentralization policy and to ensure equity in the allocation and utilization of the budget

Improve capacity at the regional directorates for budget preparations and budget management

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Design a comprehensive national investment programme for the full re-integration of VET into the secondary school system beyond theory to practical training.

13.8 Education Sector Management

13.8.1 Recommendations Improve upon the degree of professionalism at the management level though professional

development and staff training policy and a defined programme of implementation

Establish a professional development and staff training policy and a defined programme of implementation

Ensure that benchmarks and targets set for sector management directorates are achieved

Ensure effective coordination and integration of all activities including financial control and management

Ensure that staff is well focused with clearly defined job descriptions

Provide adequate resources for the management of the sector including adequate means of transport and equipment and their operations and maintenance

Conduct regular workshops and seminars as part of professional training and staff development

Optimize the use of the EMIS to enhance capacity and quality of sector management

Established database on all education programmes and in all regional directorates to enhance management and contribute towards institutional capacity building.

Reduce the large regional disparity programmes, resource allocation, staffing, implementation rates, supervision and monitoring and performance especially at the schools level

Improve upon budgeting procedure and expenditure schedules to avoid underutilization or non-utilization of allocated budget

Consolidated the decentralization process and transfer more responsibility and authority to the regional directorates and ensure the establishment of regional plans as inputs to the overall education plan and for effective management and evaluation of policy impacts at the regional level.

Reduce the staff attrition rate by offering better incentives and security of tenure for highly trained staff with rare management and planning skills

Maintain existing review, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms such as the SMT, CCM and annual sector review as good management practices.

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Provide enough funds for educational management commensurable to the giant task of developing and effectively managing the sector.

13.9 Education And Human Resource Development

13.9.1 Recommendations

Reduce the number of illiterates, in particularly, among women in rural communities

Increasing the number of secondary school leavers in the agricultural labour force to reduce the preponderance of female primary level or illiterates in the labour force

For a modernizing economy with a global vision the proportion of the professional, managerial and technical categories in the work force must be substantial increase to lift the country from a largely agrarian economy to one of new technologies, especially in the service and ICT industries.

There is also the need to expand secondary and tertiary level education to allow for the upgrading of the educational quality of the national labour force. This is because the current institutions are inadequate in numbers to produce the required numbers from these institutions such as the GTTI MDI, Gambia College and The University of the Gambia

There is the need to upgrade the status of the National Training Authority not only to monitor training at the vocational and technical education level but actually to advise and determine investment levels in vocational and technical education and training. In this regard there is a large scope for private/public sector partnership and private sector participation in the delivery of vocational and technical education.

In order to link education to demands of the work place, there is an urgent need to set up a Labour Intelligence Monitoring system (LIMS) to provide labour intelligence that can be used to influence the focus of education on market demands. In the absence of such a data link it would be difficult to actually determine the number of persons and the qualifications required for the different levels of the occupational ladder. This type of database is not currently available in the Gambia. In fact at the time of completion of this Review in September 2004, The National Population and Household Census have not yet been published.

It is on the basis of the whole review and analysis of the available data and information that the form and structure of the attached Matrix is provided as a planning tool which provides a framework for a Five Years Investment Programme and Plan of Action for a Medium Term Plan (MTP). The Matrix identifies policy issues in each education sub-sector and programme, identifies the strategies required for each sub-sector according to policy aims, goals/targets, resources required and organizations or agencies that should be responsible for the respective implementation of programmes in the various sub-sectors of the plan and programmes. It also identifies the expected out-puts/targets that would be required for the programme over the next five years.

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FIGURE: STRUCTURE AND PROGRAMMES OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM FORMAL SYSTEM INFORMAL SYSTEM

Tertiary and University Education 20 +Professional educationVocational and technical education Adult and Non-formal education Skills training

Grades 10-12Senior Secondary Education 16-19 yearsGeneral education Adult and Non-formal educationScience and Technology/IT education Skills trainingVocational and Technical education

Grades 7-9Upper Basic Education 11-14 yearsGeneral education

Grades 1-6Lower Basic Education 7-10 years

Early ChildhoodEducation 0-7 YearsInfant education(Receiver 1 and 2)

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