Students and teachers of BolsoverHigh School in the UK last Saturday visited Kuntaya Senior Secondary in Jokadu District North Bank Region. The visit is meant to strengthen the link between the two schools. It is indeed heartening to see this kind of cooperation between the schools.

Speaking in an interview with The Point shortly before their departure from the Banjul Ferry Terminal, the head of the delegation, Ian Tidswell, revealed that the link was established in September, 2008 by Mr. Crordon Inglis, the principal of BolsoverSchool who has been coming to The Gambia for many years and knows many people.

He added that the link is very useful and they hope it will enable the children in UK to know more about The Gambia. “We brought along letters to give to 20 students and we hope this will link them with English boys and girls to send correspondence to learn about each other’s schools,” he said.

It is extremely important that young people from Europe and other continents see the reality for Gambian students on the ground. It is these young people who are the future leaders of their nations and so could influence the way that Africa is treated by the rest of the world in terms of trade and other serious issues.

We also pray that great friendships will be formed through this excellent link and the cultural exchange will work both ways.

Mr. Fatty outlined a brief history of the school by saying that the school was founded in September, 2000 and it started with a student population of 50 and now caters for more than 386 students the majority of whom are girls. This is extremely positive progress and all involved in bringing it about must be praised for their efforts. Again we state that our young people are our future in The Gambia and we must stop at nothing to ensure that they receive the best education they possibly can when they are young.

“Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.”

Lord Henry Brougham