A three-day conference on pre-school development sponsored by MBG on Friday ended at TARUD pre-school in Gunjur.

In his welcoming remarks, Madi Jatta, Chairman Board of Trustees of Trust Agency for Rural Development said in recent years , there has been a significant increased in the number of pre-schools in The Gambia.

Mr Jatta added that the high rate population growth has contributed to this. According to him, traditionally, young children do accompanied their mothers or leave them in the care of older children, especially girls or grand parents.

“ In recent years, however, parents have looked to alternative forms of pre-school provision for the following reasons: Increased enrolment of older children, including girls, in primary school education; Increased involvement of mothers in income generating activities outside the home throughout the year; and growing awareness by parents of the value of giving children an early start on the education ladder.

“However, there is a very wide variation in the type and quality of service provided. In the urban settings, the emphasis is tended on créches and pre-school, mainly by the private sector on a fee-payig basis. The majority of these schools focus predominantly on conventional and didactic teaching of academic skills in order to give their pupils a headstart for entry into the Lower Basic School,” he added.

Dr Ray Jones, Chairman of MBD, in a brief statement said the conference will determine what will happen in the pre-school development in years to come in The Gambia.

According to him, the conference will forcus on pre-school. “ That is to say what the children learn and how they learn in terms of pre-school development’’, he added.

Tineke Meer, a representative of the Happy Gunjur Foundation, said the area of intervention is to sponsor children who cannot pay their school fees.

For his part, Director of TARUD Alhaji Sandang Bojang, said TARUD Pre-school was established in 1991 by MBD/GLC as one of its projects with the aim of providing Early Childhood Care and Education for children (3-7 years) in order to build a strong foundation for Primary Education.

“Thus, over the years a lot of children have graduated from the Lower Basic School. Secondly, may I make special mention of Happy Gunjur Foundation, a Dutch Charitable established in 2004, to assist TARDU Pre-schol. Since its inception, the foundation has been very generous in supporting the pre-school, notably in the areas of Play/Learning materials, support to Feeding Programme, sponsoring 60 needy children in the area of school fees, uniforms, school bags and shoes. Very recently they have provided funding for the construction of this very dining hall, office, staff room and 6 cubicle toilets, which was officially inaugurated on 5th November 2006, “ he concluded.