(作者:电子科技大学西非研究中心团队,执笔人:吴宇亮(电子科技大学公共管理学院、西非研究中心助理)【西非漫谈】2021年第二十二期,总第四十七期。整理:孟雅琪,供稿:赵蜀蓉)
--本文原刊载于环球网(Huanqiu.com)“西非漫谈”栏目
Wu Yuliang:Education Development in The Gambia
Part 1: Overview of education in The Gambia
1.1 National Geographic Data and Population Structure
The Gambia is a small, fragile country in West Africa and the smallest country on African continent. Like other countries in West Africa, The Gambia seeks to build a foundation for long-lasting sociopolitical stability and robust economic growth. There are strong implications that the education sector will play a key role in the process.
The country (10,689 square kilometers) is surrounded by Senegal, except for a 60-km Atlantic Ocean front. The main ethnic groups in Gambia are Mandinka, Wolof and Fula. The capital Banjul is an important trading post between West Africa and the world. According to World Bank Data (2020), The Gambia has a population of 2.41 million, of which the population aged 0-14 accounting for 43.95%, the population aged 15-64 accounting for 53.52%, and the population over 65 years old accounting for 2.53%.
(From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gambia#/media/File:Ga-map.png)
1.2 National Education Development Data
The education system in The Gambia can be traced in a continuum from early childhood development to university education with three years of preschool education, nine years of uninterrupted basic education, three years of secondary education and mostly four years of tertiary and higher education. After 2007, there are two ministries responsible for the mandates to deliver education and training, namely: The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) and The Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (MoHERST).
In terms of education statistics, education authorities does not conduct independent surveys and statistics, but cooperates with international organizations to gather education statistics. Despite that primary completion rate has reached 82.26% in the relevant age group in The Gambia (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2021), in the statistics of children aged 15-17, only 65% of students have completed primary education, this completion rate declines further at higher levels of education, with 46% of students completed lower secondary education and 29% of students completed upper secondary (UNICEF, The Gambia Education Fact Sheets, 2020).
(From: https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/how-emis-data-drive-education-reforms-case-gambia)
Education in The Gambia has been rarely affected by the political changes. Since its independence in 1965, The Gambia has had long-term social stability and good public security. Education has been deeply affected by economic development, poverty, international assistance, religion and family. According to UNICEF Data (2020), around 18% of primary school children (7-12 years old) are out of school over the country; meanwhile this completion rate increases further at higher levels of education. Around 26% of lower secondary school children (13-15 years old) and 40 % of upper secondary school children (16-18 years old) are out of school.
Early marriage and pregnancy also has a significant effect on female education. Around 18% of young women (20-24 years old) got married or entered a union between their 15th and 18th birthday. The level of education is strongly associated with early marriage, especially marriage before 15 years old. Because girls who marry early are less likely to stay in school. Correspondingly, girls who study longer are less likely to marry early. According to UNICEF Data (2020), girls complete primary school at a higher rate (69%) than boys (61%). Although this dynamic is still present at the lower secondary level, but it is reversed at the upper secondary level, where 31% of boys complete but only 28% of girls(UNICEF, The Gambia Education Fact Sheets, 2020).
Part 2: Challenge, achievement and opportunity of education
2.1 Educational Challenges
2.1.1 Challenges in economic development: The Gambia has faced several significant socioeconomic challenges over the past few years, from droughts in 2011 and 2014 to the Ebola-related crisis in 2014. These shocks, combined with persistent demographic pressures due to consistently high fertility rates, have left the country severely financially constrained.
2.1.2 Challenges in sociopolitical stability: political unrest during the 2016 presidential election, the former President Yahya Jammeh lost the election. In January 2017, the current President Adama Barrow was sworn in Senegal. The social situation in The Gambia was once tense. Under the intervention of the African Union, ECOWAS and the international community, ECOWAS also sent troops into The Gambia to stabilize the sociopolitical situation, now it has been deployed here for 5 years. New presidential election will be held in December 2021, which most Gambians believe it will be a democratic, peaceful, open , friendly presidential elections.
2.1.3 Challenges in education: the low literacy rate was directly affected by lack of education. The government intended to provide equal quality education opportunity to all citizens. Two education ministries has made great efforts and played a key role in meeting the challenges. But affected by the slow economic development, despite the government’s tremendous efforts, the completion of education is still insufficient. In 2020, the total number of primary school students was 393,100 of which about 49,000 (12.47%) are out of school. At the same time, around 38% of children do not start school at the official school-starting age (7 years old). According to UNESCO Data (2015), the country has a population of 2.08 million, which the illiteracy rate of population (over 15 years old) was up to 49.22%. Interestingly, compared with the past, youth literacy rates had substantially increased between 2010 and 2015.
2.2 Educational Achievements
2.2.1 Over the past 15 years the Ministry of basic and secondary education has focused on improving access, equity, quality and relevance, and improved sector management. Thanks to these efforts, more children go to school, education infrastructure has improved, teacher supply has increased, and teachers have been better supported through pedagogical training (World Bank, The Gambia: Education Sector Public Expenditure Review, 2017).
Public-private partnership: In The Gambia, government and grant-aided schools are categorized as public schools whereas private schools comprise the Madrassah and private conventional schools. All of the government and grant-aided schools that provide basic and secondary education are principally financed by the government. The grant-aided schools are managed by the school boards but the government funds their teachers’ salaries. Moreover, 70% of the Madrassah expenditures are sponsored with government subventions.
Early childhood development (ECD): As of 2015, conventional private centers accounted for the highest share of enrollment in preschool (60.5%), followed by government schools, which accounted for 23.8%.
Basic education: At the basic education level, 55.9% of the schools are public (government and grant aided schools) in 2015, which accounted for more than half of total enrollment (74%) and employed 71.5% of the teachers.
Senior secondary education: At the senior secondary level, the enrollment in conventional private schools has increased to about 20% but the government still has the dominant share of enrollment (71.8%).
Post secondary: There are about 67 post secondary institutions and the number of students enrolled in 2015 stood at 14,777, of which 72% are enrolled in public institutions. (Data after the year 2015 is currently unavailable.)
(From: https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/how-emis-data-drive-education-reforms-case-gambia)
2.2.2 The Gambia struggles for educational sustainable development. The government released a forward-looking, constructive, and guiding education development plan: The Education Sector Strategic Plan (2016-2030). The plan represents a crucial step in articulating the country’ s priorities and educational vision, covering all education sub-sectors, from early-childhood to higher education, and including specific strategies to improve equity, efficiency and learning outcomes. The national education system is more effective, according to official record (2019), there were 1,384 centers providing Early Childhood Development (ECD). Meanwhile, the country registered 1,827 schools under tertiary, including 1,153 lower basic schools, 481 upper Basic schools and 193 senior secondary schools. These achievements will promote and increase the accessibility of social education in The Gambia.
2.3 Educational development opportunities
While the country made considerable progress in the earlier part of the decade, for the last 5 years, key education indicators have stagnated, and the system faces several challenges related to access, equity, learning outcomes and efficiency.
(From: https://www.globalpartnership.org/news/gambia-launched-education-improvement-project-grants-world-bank-and-gpe)
As an extremely underdeveloped country, The Gambia has received support from the international partners, such as World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, EU, OPEC, and USAID. For educational development, the OPEC signed a loan agreement amounting to US$5 million for the country's education (2014). World Bank and UNICEF jointly provided US$3.5 million in a special assistance between 2020 and 2021. This grant supports including an accelerated learning program so students can catch up and support to promote the psychology of students and teachers, and also providing educational packets with a priority for the most vulnerable communities training teachers to deliver education content across distance learning platforms. Moreover, the organization also support the Ministry of Education with its COVID-19 response (US$70,000).
In addition, the USAID signed an agreement committing $15 million that will facilitate and expand both development cooperation (2021), including strengthening the education services in The Gambia. Benefited from the abundant international assistance, the governance process of The Gambia education system will be further accelerated.
Part 3: National Education Policy System
3.1 The constitution of the republic of The Gambia was adopted on 8 August 1996 and entered into force in January 1997. Since then, it has been revised many times. Some key provisions of the Constitution protecting the right to education:
Art. 30. Right to education:
All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities and with a view to achieving the full realization of that right.
(1) Basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all;
(2) Secondary education, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by progressive introduction of free education;
(3) Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular, by progressive introduction of free education;
(4) Functional literacy shall be encouraged or intensified as far as possible;
(5) The development of a system of schools with adequate facilities at all levels shall be actively pursued.
Art. 217. Educational objectives:
(1) The state shall endeavour to provide adequate educational opportunities at all levels of study for all citizens.
(2) The state shall pursue policies to ensure basic education for all citizens and shall endeavour to provide adequate resources so that such tuition for basic education shall be free for all citizens.
(3) The state shall endeavour to provide skills training centers.
(4) The state shall take measures to create an adult literacy programme, rehabilitative vocational training for the disabled, and continuing education programmes.
3.2 Education Sector Strategic Plan (2016-2030) was adopted in 2016. To promote the sustainable development of national education, the program is expected to provide more equity in basic, secondary, technical and vocational education and training, higher education:
Objective 1: Schools, Madrassah, skills centers, tertiary and higher education environment conducive for teaching and learning.
Objective 2: Increased learning opportunities in basic, secondary, tertiary and higher education institutions.
Objective 3: ECD Children/Students adequately prepared for teaching and learning.
Objective 4: Access to adult learning courses increased.
Objective 5: Access to TVET programs, particularly in deprived areas increased.
Objective 6: Retention and performance of teaching staff improved.
Objective 7: Retention of female students across all levels of education improved.
Objective 8: Access to all levels of education and training for children with disabilities improved.
Objective 9: A nationally-owned school feeding program developed and implemented.
Objective 10: Out of school children provided with an alternative form of education through a conditional cash transfer (CCT) scheme.
Objective 11: All levies in public schools abolished in favour of grants.
Part 4: Support From The Chinese Government
Since the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and The Gambia in 2016, the two countries have signed five agreements on Economic and Technological Cooperation between China and The Gambia, and under these agreements, the Chinese Government has offered grants and aid to The Gambia, including the construction of the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center; the roads and bridges project in URR; agricultural and technical assistance and other projects.
(From: http://www.focac.org/eng/ltjj_3/ltjz/)
Currently, China-Gambia relation is developing solidly and steadily. The Gambia, as a member of the FOCAC, is both a beneficiary of Africa's development and a contributor of China-Africa cooperation. China supports The Gambian Government’s endeavour in pushing forward to build “the new Gambia”.
As a result of friendly relations that have developed over the years, The Gambia has benefited in areas of education through the provision of scholarship and training programs, agriculture, economic and trade cooperation.
[1] UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2019) BROWSEBY COUNTRY. The Gambia.
http://uis.unesco.org/en/country/gm
[2] UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved September , 2021.
https://data.world
bank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.CMPT.ZS?locations=GM
[3] World Bank (2021). World Bank in The Gambia.Partner countries. Where we work . Retrieved September, 2021.
https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/the-gambia
[4] World Bank (2021). World Bank Open Data to The Gambia.
https://data.worldbank.org/country/gambia
[5] Foroyaa. China, Gambia Sign D1.2 Billion Economic, Technical Cooperation Agreement.
https://foroyaa.net/china-gambia-sign-d1.2-billion-economic-technical-cooper
[6] The website of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in The Gambia. May 27, 2021.
https://www.mfa.gov.cn/ce/cegm//eng/sgxw/t1878844.htm
[7] World Bank (2017). The Gambia: Education Sector Public Expenditure Review: An Efficiency, Effectiveness, Equity, Adequacy, and Sustainability Analysis.
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/28942
[8] Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in The Gambia. Education Statistics Summary Report 2019.
http://www.edugambia.gm/data-area/reports/education-statistic-
report/330-education-statistics-summary-report-2019.html
[9] UNICEF Data(2021). The Gambia Education Fact Sheets 2020.
https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Gambia-Education-Fact-Sheet-2020.pdf
[10] Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in The Gambia. Education Sector Strategic Plan(2016-2030).
https://www.globalpartnership.org/sites/default/files/2018-09-the-
[11] World Bank (2020). INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION PROJECT PAPER ON A PROPOSED ADDITIONAL GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF US$7.16 MILLION TO THE REPUBLIC OF The Gambia: FOR AN EDUCATION SECTOR SUPPORT PROGRAM ADDITIONAL FINANCING .
https://www.globalpartner
ship.org/sites/default/files/document/file/2020-04-gambia-program-document-additional-mca.pdf