If every thing goes well, the community of Gunjur in Kombo South, Western Region will soon get a new nursery school thus providing an opportunity to many children in the village to have early childhood education on their own door step.

The Alkalo of the village, Alhagie Sulay Touray, last Monday laid the foundation stone of a two million dalasi nursery school in the village. The school is sponsored by the Dutch-based Happy Foundation, in collaboration with the Gunjur Community Pre-school.

In his speech on the occasion, the Gunjur Alkalo hailed the Happy Foundation and Gunjur Community Pre-school for the initiative, adding that it will go a long way in improving and developing early childhood education in Gunjur and its surrounding areas.

He stated that anybody who wants to bring development to Gunjur is highly welcome and he urged other donors to emulate Happy Foundation and Gunjur Community.

Saihou Njie, an official of the Regional Education Office Brikama, said the occasion was another milestone in the history of the village and the country as a whole.

He revealed that early childhood education plays a significant role in the developing children in The Gambia.

He assured Happy Foundation that the Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education highly welcomes the initiative and urged them to keep up the momentum.

For his part, the Headmaster of the school, Kaduba Bojang , applauded all those who witnessed the occasion.

He assured the gathering that they would do everything possible to make sure early childhood education in Gunjur and its environs is successful.

Other speakers included the Chairman of the Happy Foundation in Holland, Andrew Vander Meder. He said that Happy Foundation Gunjur was founded in 2002 and they sponsored 80 students at Gunjur Tarud Pre-school. He revealed that they also provided a toilet and dining room while the Dutch government donated 20,000 Euros to the foundation for the funding of the nursery school.

The ceremony was attended by a cross section of the Gunjur community.