President Yahya Jammeh in his agenda to educate the Gambian child to the highest level has tasked a high level committee to spearhead and organised an annual scholarship pageant for Gambian female students, according to a press release issued by the Department of State for Communications and Information Technology.

Below we reproduce the full text of the release:
 
“H.E. The President of the Republic of The Gambia, Alhagi Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, in his agenda to educate the Gambian child to the highest level has tasked a high level committee to spearhead and organised and annual scholarship Pageant for Gambian female students. The pageant will be all-inclusive. Competitions will be held in all the regions at the level of Upper Basic, Senior Secondary and tertiary institutions, including the University of The Gambia. The approved outfits for the competitions will be African designs and sports wear.

Winners at the Upper Basic level will enjoy full scholarships up to undergraduate level. The scholarships will cover books, tuition, uniforms where applicable and stipend. Winners of the Secondary School level will be fully sponsored up to master’s level and winners at the tertiary level will enjoy the same up to masters and PhD levels. Winners in this category will also be given the opportunity to choose their preferred university, if those programmes are not available locally.

In addition to providing scholarships for the various winners of the pageant, the July 22nd scholarship pageant will create a platform for young Gambian female students to challenge themselves in academic performance, communication skills and general knowledge. It will also give them a platform to take up social responsibilities at community level. The preliminaries will be done in the various regions and the final competitions, are scheduled to take place in Banjul on July 13th 2008 for the Upper Basic level, July 14th for the Senior Secondary level and July 20th 2007 for the tertiary level. More details on this pageant will be shared with the public as preparations get underway.”