Since it's inception in 1927 Armitage has for the most part fulfilled it's
core mandate of providing basic education to the rural poor who would
otherwise have much diminished opportunities in their quest for a bright
future. Throughout the years it's graduates have gone on to become
distinguished in their chosen fields both within the country and overseas. As
a wholly subsidized boarding institution it entirely relies on government
subsidies to maintain a good academic standard and also provide for the 400
plus kids boarding. Tragically the last several years has left this great
school teetering on the brink. As in the rest of the high schools, standards
have fallen markedly, producing graduates that with such poor results that
they can't be honestly called functionally literate. This year for example
close to three quarters of the high school graduates failed the core subject
areas of Math's, Physics and Chemistry and biology. Yahya Jammeh's gov't has
essentially embarked on defunding education by starving it of the minimum
resources needed and instead shifting the little money in the treasury for
personal angradisement. Their entire approach to education is to churn
Gambian kids into mediocre high schools who for lack of attention and
resources can never attract good teachers or materials. The situation is even
grimmer for the tens of thousands of kids who can't get into high school and
have to settle for what they euphemistically call 'skill centers'. They are
nothing more that dens of ineffectiveness and an utter waste of time. How can
you send kids to a center with a few anvils, hammers and nails and expect
them to acquire any lasting marketable skills?.Through no fault of theirs
these kids come out of these centers poorly trained, and enter a moribund
private sector that provides no opportunities for them? This government does
not care about what happens to the Gambian people. Even as they are literally
planning on producing an entire generation of kids who would not be equipped
to fend for themselves, they are always shamelessly touting what they call
high transition rates from primary to secondary school conveniently
neglecting the dismal final results which are the only indicators of the kind
of education they are getting. This government simply wants to leave our
nation poor, sick and uneducated so that a large segment of the population
can more easily be put on a charity leash with Yahya Jammeh portraying
himself as principal benefactor and pulling them by the neck and occasionally
giving them the drips of their resources he has taken from them. Sickening
and utterly unacceptable but that is the current state of affairs. List
members would agree that it spells maximum peril for our people.
      All of these severe hindrances are amplified for Armitage and it's
students. With  the drastic cuts in funding, the school simply can't hire
good teachers or even maintain the few they have on staff not to mention
equip it's labs and stock up the library. Academic excellence is almost
entirely predicated on these aspects. The school must also house and feed
it's student body, an undertaking that greatly impacts on the ability of the
kids to excell.Afterall they  have to eat something everyday. They school has
tried to stay alive by trying to make up for some of the revenue denied it by
charging the student's boarding fees far in excess of what their parent's can
afford. For list members unaware, over 90% of the students enrolled in
Armitage come from extremely poor backgrounds with meager or none existent
resources. Most can't afford bath soap. Currently cost per student averages
about D2000 per year. For a poor farmer who subsists on a few acres of
groundnuts and corn, this is a bill he cannot pay under any circumstances
especially if you add to that the fact that most have earned no money for two
successive years because there was no trade season to market their
groundnuts. Those with a few livestock or with relatives abroad may make the
hefty bill often after leaving the family penniless. Those who can't pay are
simply asked to leave school. If the thought of seeing kids perfectly willing
and eager to get education being priced out of a basic high school education
is too much to stomach, I 've news for you. The government is even proposing
a steeper increase in the fees Armitage students would have to pay because
the  already tiny subsidy would again be slashed. Apparently this government
can find in excess of D2million for Yahya Jammehs' allowance for his
inappropriate travels but can't find a butut to save hundreds of children
being thrown out of their high school classrooms. They have no qualms about
ruining innocent lives.
Ultimately our basic human instincts require us to do what we can to help
ameliorate the situation to the extent that we can. To this end, I would in
the coming weeks try to develop data on 50 of the most neediest students at
Armitage. Once the information is gathered, I would write to GESO and Gambia
Support Group( two outfits that specialize in helping needy students) to
request use of their existing organizational infrastructure to mount a drive
for these kids. If they agree I'd suggest we use them as repositories for the
'Armitage Student Aid Fund'. The aim would be to compliment their overall
stated objective of helping needy students. The only difference is the
apparent acuteness of problems facing these Armitage kids at this time hence
nessicitating this school specific drive. It is indeed a modest number
considering the great number in need.  I am  nonetheless hopeful that with a
stretch of a hand, atleast not all of them would be sent packing.

Karamba

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------