3 May 2000.
President of the Republic,
State House,
Muamar Ghadaffi Avenue,
BANJUL.
Secretary of State for Education,
Department of State for Education,
Bedford Place Building,
BANJUL.
The Gambia Teachers' Union,
G.T.U. Headquarters,
Kanifing,
KSMD.
The Gambia Conferences of Principals of Junior and Senior Secondary Schools,
C/O Department of State for Education,
Bedford Place Building,
BANJUL.
THE NEED TO TAKE TWO STEPS FORWARD INSTEAD OF ONE STEP BACKWARD
The Codes of Conduct which have reportedly been drawn by "the Gambia
Conferences of Principals of Junior and Senior Secondary Schools and the
Gambia Teachers' Union Executive" for Gambian schools are quite instructive.
It is incredible to us, as it must be for everyone who sees the students as
the architects of this nation's future, that such Codes of Conduct are
prepared by the two bodies mentioned.
Practice is a teacher. Those who wish to teach the students virtues must
themselves be motivated by noble visions and missions. It is the unvarying
characteristics of those who have no regard of the dignity and self-worth of
the human being to draft draconian rules whose object is not to enhance the
development of anyone but simply to be repressive.
Suffice it to say, such a tendency is often characterised by a total
disregard for the fundamental pillars which underpin the preservation of a
society based on justice and respect for the liberty of the human person.
You would agree with us that the lessons that African children need to learn
are that they have the supreme responsibility to build the type of future
that their own children will be proud to inherit. The best way to teach them
this lesson is for the adults of today to strive to build the type of
society that the students of today will be proud to inherit.
Parents, teachers and adults need to recognise the inherent dignity and
worth of the student. They must prepare them in an environment based on
tolerance, freedom, solidarity, understanding and happiness. Once a child is
seen as an evil person incapable of rational thinking and deserving the
stick and social exclusion through suspensions and expulsions, the human
conscience is choked of life and a beast created who views the world with
hostility and who seeks revenge against a hostile world.
It is this recognition that the human being needs harmonious development
that compelled humanity to develop certain just rules which are meant to be
implemented by the nations of the world.
One would have thought that authorities who seek to exercise control and
direction of our educational institutions would be guided by a thorough
understanding of how to guide students in the 21st Century. One would have
thought that they would not sink to arbitrariness in handling delicate
national affairs.
Our first concern is the arbitrariness shown in the formulation of the Codes
of Conduct. Take Rule 12 of Part I. It states:
"12.1 For repeated acts of indiscipline, students are liable to be
suspended or expelled based on the gravity of the offence.
"12.2 Suspension should range from one day to twenty-seven days.
"12.3 A student expelled from one school must not be enrolled in any other
school."
Allow us to juxtapose Rule 12 with Rule 11 of Part I, which reads:
"11. STRIKES AND DEMONSTRATIONS
"11.1 Strikes and demonstrations have no place within the school system
"11.2 Students concerns should be directed to the Student Welfare Committee,
which should comprise teachers, guidance Counsellors, Chairpersons of PTAs
and the Student Council."
Part II, Rule 11 states that:
"11. STRIKES AND DEMONSTRATIONS
"Engagement in strikes and demonstrations could result in expulsion.
"12. SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION
"12.1 Students who are suspended cannot be accepted back to school unless
they come with their parents.
"12.2 Records should be kept of students suspended so as to be used for
future references, e.g. testimonials, transcripts, etc.
"12.3 Students expelled from school will not be eligible for admission
anywhere else."
One may now ask: Where would such young people go? Will they not be part of
society? Can one expel them from being part of society?
It is very clear that no leadership which has a nation at heart could
possibly introduce any form of expulsion in a school system.
Countries have criminal justice systems. Students may find themselves
entangled in the courts being convicted of crimes. Even there, attempts
should be geared at rehabilitating them.
Expulsion of students from schools is a fascist rule which belongs only to
a fascist State. It is not reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.
Furthermore, Part I, Rule 9 states:
"EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
"Extra curricular activities are part of the school curriculum and as such
all students must be involved.
"9.1 All school clubs/societies must be registered with the school
authority.
"9.2 No school student should be a member of the Gambia Students' Union
(GAMSU) which is a union for students in tertiary institutions.
"9.3 School picnics, outings, excursions, etc. must only be organised with
the approval of the school Head with authorised staff supervision.
Permission from the parents should also be sought."
Part II, Rule 9 adds:
"9. EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
"9.1 Unauthorised picnics/excursions will result in suspension of culprits.
"9.2 Clandestine affiliation with unapproved unions, clubs or other such
groups will result in indefinite suspension."
It is very clear from this that the direction of these Codes of Conduct is
to cultivate the embryo of a fascist state within the school system. What is
dubbed clandestine activity would require informers within the school system
to expose. What type of a society will our school system create in future?
There is nothing in the Rules which indicates rights for students. Nothing
is established on how innocence or guilt will be determined. School
administrators will simply be prosecutors and judges at the same time. Some
among the students will simply be recruited as informers to pass information
to the authorities.
Suffice it to say, these Rules are established without any regard shown for
the provisions of the Constitution, the Education's Act and the Convention
on the Rights of the Child.
The Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia recognises the importance of
cultivating an environment where the person grows up as a human being with
rights and freedoms and obliges others to respect those rights and freedoms.
It recognises that the cornerstone for building a peaceful society rests on
building a society where rights and freedoms are fully respected and
protected irrespective of race, colour, gender, language, religion,
political or other opinions, national or social origin or any other status.
Section 29 of the Constitution affirms the duty to enact legislations "in
the best interest of children."
Section 30 asserts that:
"All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and
facilities and with a view to achieving a full realisation of that right-
"(a) basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all;
"(b) secondary education, including technical and vocational education,
shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate
means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education;
"(c) higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis
of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular, by progressive
introduction of free education;
"(d) functional literacy shall be encouraged or intensified as far as
possible;
'(e) the development of a system of schools with adequate facilities at all
levels shall be actively pursued."
Article 15 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states categorically
that:
"State Parties recognise the rights of the child to freedom of association
and to freedom of peaceful assembly."
What laws exist which will enable a school authority to determine what
constitutes a legal or clandestine club? Apparently, all these things will
be arbitrarily determined.
In our view, what happened on 10 and 11 April 2000 would not have happened
if those who preside over the affairs of this nation had the necessary
foresight. Needless to say, if the right lessons are not learnt, the school
system will end up having to face the choice of expelling thousands of
school children from our school systems or allowing the Codes of Conduct to
collect dust for fear of the implications of implementing them.
What the moment requires is not the establishment of draconian rules. What
is required is the building of confidence in each other so that there will
be greater trust. Human beings do not aim to destroy those who care for
them. There are many teachers, headmasters and principals in the school
system. Some have developed close relationship with their students and do
not have disciplinary problems.
What is essential is to draw lessons from those who have been able to build
up a close rapport with their students in order to be able to exercise
direction and control over their schools.
The Education Act has not empowered Conferences of Principals, Headmasters
and Teachers' Union Executive to establish draconian rules. What Section 3
of the Education Act establishes is an Advisory Council on education.
Section 4 asserts that:
"The Council shall advise and report to the Minister on questions of policy
affecting education and matters of educational significance, and to perform
such other duties as may be prescribed by or under this Act."
What would have been necessary is for the Council to meet and look at the
crisis and give necessary advice to the Secretary of State after
consultation with the people.
A mature and democratically-minded leadership would not transfer the crisis
of the executive into the school system. School administrators have their
own problems which they could tackle not only by focusing on the students,
but on all aspects of school life. The scrutiny would cover even the conduct
of school administrators themselves and their teachers. The problem of
discipline is an entirely different question which needs special
consideration.
How students should express grievances to policy makers is also an entirely
different issue. In a society led by democratically-minded leaders
demonstrations would not be seen as a crime since it is a constitutional
right. On the contrary, students would be free to organise peacefully to
express their concerns.
Let us take the incident of April 10 as an example. Let us say that the
country had mature and democratically-minded policy makers who would have
been ready to witness the demonstration of the students and even accept a
petition from them regarding their grievances. Such a person would have been
able to read all the inscriptions on the banners and quickly digest what to
draw from them.
For example, such a person would have been able to explain the judicial
process regarding those who have allegedly murdered Ebrima Barry. He or she
would have been able to give an update on Binta Manneh's case. He or she
would have been able to address those who called for 'sopi' or change by
simply telling them that they are entitled to their opinions, but that in a
Sovereign Republic people have the option to bring about change by
supporting the party of their choice; that if they were interested in change
they could go and support the party of their choice and appeal to the
electorate. This would have been the simple truth. A democratically-minded
leadership would not be offended by the expression of the true feeling of
any citizen.
We hope that as we move towards a new period the school system would not
entertain the type of agenda that could lead to a break down of confidence
between the students and their principals and headmasters/headmistresses.
The principals and headmasters/headmistresses must not be seen as mere
gendarmes of the regime within the school system.
What the school system needs are guides who would be able to reach out to
the inner beings of the students and impact on their lives so that they
would remember them not for expelling them from school, but for doing their
best to help them to overcome their weaknesses, build upon their strength in
order to be fully prepared to be the architects of a new future of liberty,
dignity and prosperity for Africa.
Let us hope that all of you will become such leaders of our school system.
It is important for all of you to know that no principal or
headmaster/headmistress can be loved when one does nothing to improve the
lives of students. One could only be remembered for having contributed to
the destruction of the pillars of the future by submitting to the agenda of
a leadership which seems to be losing its head instead of using it to solve
national problems.
We hope that the executive will see the need to allow its policies to be
bound by the dictates of values that are reasonably justifiable in a
democratic society instead of making very simple issues very complex.
.......................................
Halifa Sallah
For: The Editorial Board.
CC: UNICEF Resident Representative
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