Issues concerning quality are indeed very topical and relevant to educational institutions systems globally, but they are particularly perplexing and quite intriguing in low income countries such as those in Africa. The Gambia is one such country where the quest to embed quality in every aspect of the education system has attracted much attention, effort and resources. Hon, Fatou Lamin Faye, Secretary of State for Basic and Secondary Education, said this in her statement at an international conference on ‘Progress through Partnership’, at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

According to her, the notion that whoever pays for services calls the shots is well known, thus, the fact that state governments assume responsibility for state apparatuses providing education implies that the overall inter-related frameworks such as legal, procedural, managerial, and so on are to a considerable extent, influenced by governments.

SOS Faye added that, against the foregoing, the Gambian education system, together with its training institutions and their programmes, is pegged against international agreements as well as parliamentary acts, such as the University of The Gambia Act, The Gambia College Act, The Gambia Technical Training Act, the National Training Authority Act as well as the National Education Policy 2004-2015. The latter deals with tertiary and higher education as it carves out directions for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and higher education in the country. Further, it has to be acknowledged that the Education For All (EFA) Goals and the MDGs equally have a bearing on the system and programmes offered.

Above all, however, it must be recognised unconditionally that access to quality education is a fundamental and an indivisible human right, which is stipulated in the UN Charter for Human Rights and in the Constitution of The Gambia.

SOS Faye further explained that many African countries inherited education systems that were not quite relevant to local conditions, since their systems were meant to serve the colonial powers. In fact, access to education was restricted to a privileged few,noting that in The Gambia, for instance, it was the sons of chiefs that enjoyed this privilege, the missionary work that followed colonial expansionism extended access to education, but in a manner that resulted in the conversion of those who were enrolled and, possibly, their parents.

“A major task that African governments had to address during the post colonial era was expanding access to deprived communities, but, this was not a simple task. The school system had to be reconciled with the existing cultures and such elements as dress, language and medium of instruction, value systems and so on. These issues are still topical and controversial in our education systems and cannot be ignored in any genuine effort aimed at addressing quality education and training practices,” she stated.

According to her, it is evident to everybody who has been following developments in The Gambia that since the advent of the AFPRC/APRC government, there have been some significant achievements in the education sector, especially in the rapid building and opening of new schools, which has resulted in tremendous increases in enrolments at various levels of the education system.

 She concluded by saying that important as teacher education and training are, in the context of substantial regional disparities similar to those existent in Africa, teacher deployment and utilisation have surfaced as contentious issues.