David A. Haffner, the former principal of Armitage Senior Secondary School, who is currently the deputy regional education director of region two, has said that “for education the future is very bright and positive,” with everybody granted equal access regardless of the gender gap.

Mr Haffner, a renown educationalist and disciplinarian, made these remarks last Wednesday at the speech and prize giving ceremony of Methodist Academy in Brikama, Western Region.

He called on students to realise the opportunities the Gambian leader has provided for them to excel in life to the fullest, “with an all inclusive packages to the UTG, Gambia College, GTTI, MDI and even to universities abroad; this is the beginning of a new dawn, for you are about to enter into the real world. Therefore, you must realise that sometimes the world is harsh and unmerciful. You have gone through one phase in life and there is much left to be done. You must therefore have The Gambia at heart and be ready to plough back in contributing your own quota in a positive manner”, said Mr Haffner.

The former Armitage principal then commended Methodist Academy for creating access in education and for making educational costs affordable for the least privileged children nationwide, which is in line with government policies targeted for attainment by 2015.

In his annual report, Morlai Camara, principal of the school, said when the stamp of the Methodist Mission was affixed in the institution in 2002, the major objective, among others, was to provide quality and affordable education for all children, especially within the Western Region. He informed the gathering that soon the Methodist Academy will be the best even beyond the borders of The Gambia, noting that today the school is among the most popular choice of schools for students and parents in the region. On the landmark achivements registered by the school, Mr Camara said that the growing popularity of the school escalate every academic year.

On examination, he said that his school used both internal and external assessment processes to evaluate students and he highlighted the steady improvement in the Gambian Basic Education Certificate Examination (GABECE) results over the years.

He then observed that the  2006/07 academic year examination results had revealed that out of a total of 95 students who took the GABECE examination, over 65% gained aggregates between 11 and 40 and at the Senior Secondary level.