Baboucarr Boye, permanent secretary, Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education, has called on school heads to utilise the little resources (human & learning materials) that are available in order to ensure the smooth operation of their schools and for children’s easy access to learning. 

Mr Boye made these remarks in his office on Thursday in an interview with this reporter, following complaints made by some head teachers regarding teacher shortages in their schools.
According to PS Boye, the Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education provides teaching and learning materials like vanguards, chalks, textbooks and teachers for all schools at the beginning of each academic year.

He said that in most schools, about 60% of their teacher requirements are provided, noting that those schools should be able to manage under such circumstance, or use the double shifting method in order to provide enough lessons for all the children.

“We don’t want to believe that the level of teacher shortage in schools can be so serious that lessons cannot start. This is a phenomenon that we are trying to break away from and we have raised this issue in our previous sensitisation programmes on the television, to inform the teachers that they should kick-start lessons as soon as the academic year begins, irrespective of the number of students they have,” PS Boye observed.
Mr Boye further revealed that they have been engaged in the process of recruiting unqualified and non-Gambian teachers to fill the gaps.

On incentives, Mr Boye revealed that apart from the zonal allowance that government has provided for all civil servants who works in certain areas, the Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education has realised that for them to be able to attract qualified teachers in some areas, they have to introduce the “hardship allowance” for teachers, and that the percentage ranges from 30-40% depending on the regions that the teachers find themselves.
He confirmed that region 3,4,5 and 6 are benefiting from the hardship allowance, adding that their next stage is to move to the Foni district of the Western Region.

Permanent Secretary Boye also highlighted the issue of teacher training on early grade reading during the last summer holiday, the provision of teaching and learning materials to enhance the National Assessment Test, as the major priorities of his department’s current focus in improving the quality education that children are receiving.
He appealed to school heads to make the optimal use of the resources that they have at their own disposals, adding that the same thing applies to the teachers.