Cripsin Grey-Johnson, sccretary of state for higher education, research, science and technology, has said that acccess to quality education by all categories of the society is a basic human right which should be promoted.

The higher education secretary of state made this remark on Wednesday, April 23, during the World’s Biggest Lesson Day of the 2008 Global Week of Action on education for all celebration held at the Fatima Senior Secondary School in Bwiam, Foni Kansala District, Western Region.

According to him, while the campaigners on education for all are encouraged by their achievements towards attaining the EFA goals, it is also sad that, over 70 million children of school-going age worldwide are not in school. He added that access and retention levels particularly for certain categories of people , such as girls and children with special needs, are still low. He added that partly as a consequence, over 800 million adults cannot read or write.

‘‘Yet, we all know that education is key to sustainable development, as it allows for maximum economic, social, health and environmental benefits”. Demonstrating her determination to protect the right to education according to the SOS, the government of The Gambia has enshrined this right in the 1997 constitution of The Gambia, which, he said remains that “ education is a basic human right.

The government further put in place the provision of an un interupted nine years basic education for all’’ He added that the government through its department of state for basic and secondary education has also expanded the courage of basic education to include Early Childhood Development.

The government under the high political will of President  Dr Alhaji Yahya Jammeh  has made tremendous efforts to include girls education to the extent that the country has now reached a parity at the basic cycle of the formal education sector.

As a demostration of this commitment, the girls education programme has been institutionalised and provide free education for girls through the President’s education girls empowerment programme, the education trust fund and other initiatives,’’ he said.

Commenting on the theme ‘’politicians back to school’’ of the 2008 Global Week of Action, the sos noted that the approach is not new in The Gambia, noting that the EFA campaign network has effectively interacted with National Assembly Members during the last two years celebrations of the Global Week of Action.

‘’ Based on these interactions, and the message received from the children, teachers, parents and the network, the National Assembly select committee on education took it upon themselves to visit schools countrywide to observe first hand the situation in Gambian schools,’’ he said. He noted that the results emanated from this visits were tabled and debated at the Assembly, which, he said resulted in an important budgetary allocations being made to improve the quality of education.

SoS Grey-Johnson applauded the EFA Campaign Network and its partners at National, Regional and Global levels for their unshakeable commitment to make education for all a reality. He added that their awareness and creative advocacy has yielded dividends and makes them a true partner in the development process.

While welcoming the participation of genuine partners to provide quality education for the healthy human resource base of the country, SOS Gripsin Grey-Johnson reaffirmed The Gambia government’s commitment to provide  quality education for all a reality by 2015.