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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------