13. EDUCATION The education sector employs 6,800 staff. 262 million dalasis was spent on education in 2005. 265 million dalasis is to be spent in 2006. The Development budget for education was 102 million in 2003 and 293 million in 2004. The monies were loans from World Bank, OPEC, Islamic Bank and so designed to increase access to education by building schools. Most of the recurrent budget is spent on salaries and other expenditures. Only 5% go to purchase learning materials. This is why the quality and relevance of education are still questionable No modern society is conceivable without the building of educational institutions that help shape the powers of the mind, prepare the citizenry for the division of labour in society and educate them with civic rights and duties and the values that enable them to be productive and contributive members of society. NADD is conscious of the fact that education is a right to all citizens. It should therefore be accessible, affordable and relevant to the individual and society. NADD aims to carry out the following programmes to promote education at the tertiary, secondary, basic and pre basic levels. a) Tertiary education: Ensure that the University of The Gambia is housed in a campus within a year of the establishment of a NADD administration by transforming the building housing the Department of State for Information and the hostel and stadium complex at Bakau into a University Campus. Negotiate with the MRC to house a teaching hospital Transform the current A.G. Chambers and the whole GPMB complex into a law school Transform the MDI into a branch of the University to offer degree courses in public administration and accounting Transform the GTTI into a polytechnic with a view to training and producing farming implements and other intermediate products needed for farming, processing or manufacturing Ensure that tertiary institutions provide the skills and knowledge necessary to satisfy the human power needs of the country. b) Secondary Education: NADD shall Ensure that secondary education is affordable and accessible to all those who have the potential to go beyond the 9 year basic compulsory cycle in education. Ensure that all secondary educational institutions are equipped with all the learning and teaching materials necessary for relevant education. Ensure that all students have the same standard text books, class env ironment, same financial obligations and exposure to the same opportunities for learning. c) Basic Cycle NADD shall ensure that the basic cycle of grade 1 to 9 shall be compulsory and free as required by the constitution. Neither girls nor boys shall pay. Ensure that the expected learning materials are clearly mapped out and Gambian experts are encouraged to produce learning materials for our basic cycle schools. Ensure that all schools offer the same standards and duration of learning to guarantee equal opportunity to all pupils or students d) Pre Basic or Early Childhood Pre Basic cycle education provides the starting point for formal learning in an educational institution. NADD shall protect the right of the child to early childhood education. It shall therefore make a. early childhood education accessible, affordable and universal b. conduct research as to the best standards to be adhered to, to make early childhood education institutions relevant for transmitting knowledge, learning skills and values in preparation for learning at the basic cycle level. NADD shall upgrade the institutions that are left behind, eradicate both the classification and grading of teachers and establish a programme for being a certificated teacher and being paid a salary above the poverty line, upgrade learning and teaching materials, create equal opportunities for learning, provide adequate and relevant learning and teaching materials, ensure proper sanitation facilities and create a Teachers Service Commission to look after the welfare of teachers. 14. HEALTH, SANITATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT The health sector comprises five major referral hospitals, major health centres, minor health centres, dispensaries and outreach stations. 218 million dalasis was put in the health sector as recurrent budget in 2005. 204 million dalasis was spent on the development of the health sector. In 2004 the budget for health and social welfare was 221 million dalasis as recurrent budget and 164 million dalasis as development budget. The development came as a result of loans and the expenditure went mainly to expand access. Quality and affordability of treatment are still major concerns of the sector. The Bamako initiative designed to guarantee accessibility to drugs by the rural community has failed miserably. Now drugs are inaccessible and unaffordable by the rural community and the urban poor. The slogan health for all is far from being realised. NADD intends to address all the components of preventive, curative and rehabilitative approaches to health. NADD aims to take an approach to health service which will combine National Campaign for environmental sanitation and disease prevention that is participatory and voluntary and not one that is militaristic and coercive. It aims to introduce environmental education in our school system and media, give home based education on how to segregate waste, place receptacles in strategic places to promote environmental cleanliness, ensure that the councils play their legitimate role in the collection and disposal of waste, develop a culture of recycling and ensure breeding grounds for parasites like mosquitoes are completely eradicated. NADD conduct health education on how to prevent illness caused by Malaria, HIV/Aids, TB and other diseases. It shall make preventive health the corner stone of its health policy. Curative Health In the area of curative health NADD shall ensure that each administrative area in the country gets a well equipped referral hospital. These referral hospitals shall be served by major health centres in major villages and minor health centres in small villages. Finally, these health centres shall be backed by village dispensaries. These village dispensaries shall serve as the basic foundation for primary health care service delivery institution. They shall be equipped with the necessary equipment, drugs and staff to ease pressure on minor and major health centres. The referral hospitals shall be equipped to provide services of high quality. Counselling and rehabilitation centres shall be established to promote rehabilitative health. 15. PENSIONS AND SOCIAL SECURITY The creation of employment and the separation of the employee from ownership of any means of income outside a salary or wage have made the aging person vulnerable. To ensure protection a social security system was established whereby both employee and employer contributed a given percentage of the income of both to secure the employee at old age. What is evident under the regime is the total disregard of the plight of the pensioners. Most receive starvation stipends at the end of each month. The vast majority become beggars to survive. NADD aims to formulate a comprehensive pension scheme that will enable pensioners to reap benefits from their investments during their days of active service. It shall enter into negotiation with Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation to ensure that workers’ contributions are secure and that investments of workers’ money will go into low cost housing and other schemes that will benefit the employees themselves. It shall also enter into relations with foreign governments to secure the pension earning of Gambians abroad. 16. WATER It is internationally accepted that water should be accessible to all human beings as a matter of right. None should go more than 100 metres without getting clean water. There are places in the urban areas and rural areas where people cannot get access to clean drinking water because of contamination of wells. In some villages the clay in the water from wells has to be allowed to settle down before water can be used for taking bath, for cooking or for drinking. NADD shall ensure that the right to have access to water shall be adequately protected. A comprehensive survey of the country shall be made within one year of a NADD administration to map out the areas where scarcity of clean drinking water poses as a menace and develop priority plans to eradicate such shortages. 17. HOUSING Gambia has clay, wood and many building materials that can offer each Gambian dignified shelter. In many parts of the world cooperative building societies had emerged to ensure that proper housing is guaranteed to all. NADD shall Commission the Social Security And Housing Finance Corporation to develop a low cost housing scheme from its contributions. In this way each pensioner will be able to have equal opportunity to own a house. NADD shall also work with the Department of Community Development to build a model house in the villages to encourage all villages to utilize the model building as an example of how to transform simple huts into houses fit for human beings. 18. RECREATION Work and leisure are two sides of the same coin. Where there is work there should be leisure. The Department of Youth and Culture received 12 million in 2004 and 21 million in 2005. The Development budget for Sports and Youths in 2004 was just 695,000 dalasis. In 2004 it rose to 5 million. In 2005 it dropped to 3 million. There is no strategic planning for the building of cultural centres in the communities for recreational facility. All the land in most places has become occupied without any social or recreational facilities. NADD shall reverse this process and ensure that in all communities a place for recreation is established. NADD shall pioneer the establishment of a financial facility to sponsor sports and artistic creation which can all yield benefits to individuals and the society at large within one year of the establishment of a NADD administration 19. LAW ENFORCEMENT, DEFENCE AND SECURITY What is visible in the budget is that a total of 57 million dalasis has been spent on defence in 2003 and 84 million dalasis in 2005. The Department of State for the Interior had a total budget, recurrent and development combined, of 88 million dalasis in 2003 and 129 million dalasis in 2005. A country needs law enforcement, defence and security to be able to create peace and stability. NADD however is committed to the retraining and redeployment of members of the law enforcement agency, the army and security forces. 1. Law enforcement: The functions of a police force are to preserve law and order, prevent and detect crime and serve the population generally. A police officer is required to be disciplined and competent. He/she should display a high degree of honesty, fairness and impartiality in their dealings with the members of the public. NADD intends to build a police force of integrity, one that will never detain people without trial for more than 72 hours. It will order the redesigning of all police cells to be fit for human beings. It will ensure that the police force exists in harmony with the people and their communities and must act on the dictates of the law and not of persons. 2. Security and Defence The Gambia shall maintain a small professional army for defence. They shall be required to protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the rights of the people. NADD shall give short term training to current members of the army to enable them to be ready at all times to defend their nation and the people. NADD shall create a patriotic army and security force that will never perpetuate atrocities to be indemnified. It shall ensure a training programme for most of the members who may wish to serve short terms to make them acquire skills and trades to enable them to return to contributive and productive civilian life after their service. NIA The National Intelligence Agency shall be given a new orientation. Its members shall be trained to be honest and loyal to the people’s interest. It shall not engage in any inhuman and degrading punishment and would not meddle in anybody’s life. They shall investigate cases that require high grade intelligence to succeed. 22. FOREIGN AFFAIRS The external policy of a NADD administration shall be based on the principle of collective sovereignty. It is premised on the realization that all peoples are embodiment of dignity and worth and none should oppress and dominate the other. In this light, the collective interest of two peoples can be defended by the collective initiatives of their governments. Herein lies the reason for the following programmes a. TWO STATES ONE PEOPLE PRINCIPLE NADD shall build relations with its closest neighbour, Senegal, on the principle of two states one people. It shall facilitate agreement on the movement of goods, people and services. The executive, national assembly, judiciary, media, civil society organisations and all other sectors of society should develop close collaboration to address the common concerns of the two states. NADD intends to extend the people to people relationship to other countries in the sub-region to promote the principle of African Integration. b. AFRICAN INTEGRATION The Recovery of Europe was done through the creation of a World Bank, an International Monetary Fund and a European recovery programme which aimed to boost up European productive capacity and inter European trade. The African Continent envisages the creation of an African Investment Bank, and an African Monetary Fund. This should be complemented by an African recovery programme. NADD is convinced that the ultimate economic emancipation of Africa lies in the integration of its institutions to guide the destiny of its peoples. NADD shall participate fully in adopting and implementing all measures that will enhance African Integration. A Department of State for African Integration and International Cooperation shall be created to promote continental approaches to unity and development. NADD shall encourage all nationals of different countries in the Gambia to form associations and elect representatives who will liaise with the Department of State for African Integration and International Cooperation to resolve all their problems that are associated state institutions. c. A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER OF PEACE No country or continent can live in isolation. No nation can therefore be secure unless its neighbours are secure. That is the fundamental lesson to learn from the trouble spots in the world. NADD therefore aims to contribute to international peace by promoting the following programmes a. Redefine the foreign policy of the country and place it on the table as soon as the NADD administration commences work. b. Work towards the awarding of debt cancellation to free resources for development c.Restore international confidence to access the 115 million dollars pledged by development partners in 2002 which have been lost under the APRC regime because of bad governance. NADD aims to make Gambia a jewel in Africa and the world in its adherence to respect for fundamental rights and freedoms and justice in managing the affairs of the country and thus earn the integrity necessary to promote world peace and development. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤