As we discuss the way forward for The Gambia, I wish to put online piece by piece some of the policies of The APRC government in terms of education, health, investment etc. Have a good day, Gassa THE APRC EDUCATION PLAN AND PROGRMME The APRC Education Plan and Programme is not only all inclusive but is particularly sensitive to the learning needs of all children, catering especially for the girl-child, women, the physically challenged, the youth and the poor. The programme covers the whole spectrum of education from the Basic level, through to Secondary, Vocational and Technical, Tertiary and University Education. This is premised on the truism that one of the threats to rapid socio-economic development is illiteracy and ignorance. The APRC government will continue its all out war against illiteracy in order to achieve the triple objective of making education not only accessible but also relevant, of good quality and affordable. BASIC EDUCATION The APRC Education programme embraces the expanded vision of Basic Education for all. Commencing at the very first level, the Education Programme will continue to promote a holistic approach to early child education and development with private providers through training of the caregivers. Close supervision of Nursery and Childcare centres to ensure standards set for children-friendly environment and care for ages 3 –6 are met in every part of the country, especially in the rural areas where we will continue to work closely with Community Development offices. From ages 7 – 16 a nine-year uninterrupted Basic Education which has already been attained in the Upper River, Central River, Lower River, and North Bank Division in the last term of the APRC government will continue to be pursued. For the next five years KMC, Banjul and Western Division with over 90% transition from grade 6-7 will be assured of 100% transition. The provision of universal access to Basic Education will be complemented with enhanced quality and relevant curricula, the modalities of which are already in place through the increased output of teachers at the Gambia College and the continued training and retraining of teachers through in-service, diploma and degree levels training at the University of the Gambia among others. Through the enhanced training of teachers over the last seven years the output of PTC tripled while HTCs quadrupled. In the next five years, a minimum of 80% trained teachers is anticipated at the Basic level. The construction programme for additional classrooms and the establishment of new schools to cope with the expansion of universal Basic Education will continue. In addition, for very remote areas, the programme will include purpose built teachers quarters already started with the schools built in some rural communities for the enhancement of teacher welfare. The motivation of teachers will be given the fullest attention possible to ensure that teachers enjoy the profession and give of their very best for the total development of all Gambian children. Universal access will be assured by making special provisions for the girl-child and physically challenged through the incentive package that assures free education of all girls in poverty stricken communities and special allowances for teachers and care givers in Special Education institutions like the school for the deaf, blind and other children with learning difficulties. Meanwhile, children with mild physical disaffections will be mainstreamed while additional facilities/centres created in some of the rural communities for others with more severe conditions. Already the girls' scholarship scheme to boost the enrolment, performance and retention of girls exists in Upper River and Central River, the designated two poorest regions, for over 2100 girls. The scheme will be extended into the Lower River and North Bank Divisions commencing after the Presidential Elections this year. In Banjul, KMC and Western Divisions the scheme will specifically target girls from poor families and girls who perform well in Maths, Science and Technology. In this regard 400 scholarships for girls will be provided in the greater Banjul area commencing after the 2001 elections. For the 10% of the school-aged population in the Madrassa, the curriculum is being synchronized with that of conventional schools and English language introduced as a subject. In-service training will be extended to Koranic teachers for skills upgrading. To enhance attendance of all children especially in poorer regions, school lunches are provided for over 60, 000 children in the last five years. This figure will be doubled to accommodate the urban poor in the greater Banjul area schools in the next government of the APRC. The expanded vision of Basic Education includes literacy and skills training for women, youth and other adults who missed out on earlier opportunities. The inputs of all NGOs will be harnessed and through the support of polyvalent teachers add value to the literacy and skills training programme. It is envisaged that by targeting a minimum of 20,000 illiterate and semi-literate youth, especially girls and women, the illiterate population for ages 15 and above will drop drastically by the end of the next term of the APRC Government and their participation in national development enhanced. SECONDARY EDUCATION Secondary Education will be expanded to double the numbers of pre- APRC government, particularly in the poorer and hitherto deprived regions of the country. In the next five years, the plan is to further upgrade some of the Upper Basic Schools, particularly in the more remote communities, to cater for the transition from grade 9. Private providers and Area Councils and Municipalities will be enabled to operate more at this level particularly in the Greater Banjul Area. The emphasis at this level will more and more focus on Science and Technology studies, the strengthening of which commenced in the last five years. The computer technology programme, which is in its infancy stages, will be further developed and expanded to the lower levels eventually. It must however be emphasized that promotion at this level will continue to be strictly based on merit, which calls for the extra support of parents to ensure that their children work hard to take full advantage of the vast opportunities that the APRC provides and will continue to further improve upon in the next term. VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING The great progress attained during the last term will be further built upon in partnership with the private sectors to neutralize the heavy dependence on non-Gambians in the informal sector. More skills and vocational centres will be established particularly in the rural areas where only a few exist. The GTTI will be upgraded into a Polytechnic and the capacity of the Foundry at the GTTI will be strengthened to help with the financing of this sector to orbit into industrialization. In this regard the relevance of the curriculum will be reviewed for its responsiveness to the labour market needs. The examinations for the lower level courses will be localized. A new Vocational and Technical Education and Training policy will be launched and a Training Authority established for quality assurance. UNIVERSITY AND TERTIARY EDUCATION This level, which received lot of attention in the last 5 years, will see further growth during the next term as it will serve as the centre piece in the transformation of the Gambia into a centre for learning in the sub-region. The scope of its programme will be expanded through partnerships with external universities to further build on the credibility and the internationalisation of its programme. Information and Communications Technology, the sciences, medicine and agriculture will continue to serve as the main focus of development and will capitalize on the state-of-the-art equipment to tap the immense potential of advanced technology to offer distance education to reach the presently un-reached at more affordable rates, there by adding the virtual facility to the singular most important achievement in the education sector during the last term of the APRC government. The university of the Gambia, already a model, will be taken to greater heights in the ensuing years if voted back into office. More Gambian youth with the disciplined disposition to acquire higher education will be guaranteed some degree of support to fulfil their dreams and join the already over 1000 plus youths who have benefited and continue to benefit from this great contribution of the APRC government to socio-economic development of The Gambia. There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve. -Mike- Levitt- _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~