To live up to the billing, Johnson said the government of the Gambia, through th e Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education cover basic education, including early childhood development and adult and non-formal education.
In his address here Thursday at the commemoration of Global Week of Action on Education, the Global Campaign for education, he said the goal for education are premised on the Gambia's vision 2020, the poverty reduction strategy, the education for all goals and the Millennium Development Goals.
He pointed out it was in line with these national and international commitments that the government is looking for collective action to address the issue of equality in education.
He also said the Global Action Week 2008 theme built on the previous themes of the right to education, calling for an end to all forms of exclusion from quality education, noting that tremendous efforts have been made to include girls in education to the extent that Gambia has now reached parity at the basic cycle of the formal education sector.
Kukung Jobateh, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Department of State for Basic and Se condary Education, noted the EFA network campaign 2008 theme "Politicians go back to school" is not out of place in The Gambia, as politicians have since 2004 undertaken to familiarise themselves with what obtains in the schools.
He disclosed that the National Assembly Education Select Committee, for instance , has visited many schools and provided relevant information on the efforts being made within the education sector, while highlighting key challenges in the house.
He said as politicians are responsible for the equitable distribution of the res ources, it is important they have firsthand knowledge of what the needs are, in ensuring that quality education is provided in the schools.
Mrs. Adelaide Sosseh, Chairperson, Education for All, said the new millennium was ushered in with great fanfare, pomp and expectation, noting however, that what was glaringly clear was that the wishes of the world had not become reality.
"Education for all had not been achieved and there were millions of children and young adults still living in darkness and misery in their hopes for getting education of good quality dashed by the realisation that their leaders had not lived up to their promises.
"2000 was the year hope ushered in EFA goals and Millennium Development Goals wh en promises were made. At Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000, world leaders adopted six goals designed to provide free and compulsory basic education for all by 2015, " Sosseh stressed.
She disclosed further that comprehensive framework was developed to ensure the a ttainment of this goal through a holistic approach to educational delivery, enco m passing all the live stages of the human being - early childhood, boyhood and girlhood, young people and adults, men and women.
"Cognisance was taken of the fact that what happens in early life impacts on wha t happens in later life and also of the fact that girls do not keep themselves out of school, their parents and poor economies do.
Later same year, in September 2000, world leaders met again in New York and deve loped the EFA goals, two of which spoke directly to Dakar that every boy and girl should have access to, and complete primary education of good quality and the gender parity and gender equality goal," she charged.
Banjul - 24/04/2008
Panapress
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|