As part of its relentless drive to bring education to the doorstep of Gambians, a UK based charity; Don McMath Foundation lately inaugurated a new nursery block at Kotu South.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the founder of the school, Anne McMath said that she has been coming to The Gambia since 1996 and over the years she has come to realize that many children do not attend school because their parents are too poor to send them. “Having realized I started to sponsor a few children and encourage my friends to do the same,” she said.

According to her the children that are sponsored often come from poor, illiterate families but, through education, they have a chance to break out of this cycle of poverty.

Anne visited many schools in The Gambia and has seen a few with good facilities but most have very little. The worst she visited had 67 children in a class, no desks, few books and most of the teaching was done on blackboards by unqualified teachers. It was these kinds of experiences that inspired Anne to set up the new school.

The school opened on 6 January 2006 and is named after Anne’s husband. It started with 30 children and since then the school has been growing by leads and bounds now attracting 98 pupils.

The official opening of the new nursery block was carried out by the British High Commissioner to The Gambia HE Philip Sinkinson who hailed the founders of the McMath Foundation for their initiative. He added that the development is an example of the links between Britain and The Gambia.