Jammeh blamed for Gambia’s poor educational standards-Town Crier

Banjul:7/24/08-Since the accidental coming into power of the most unfortunate and useless government of Yaya Jammeh what have we achieved in terms of education? Yes, all his supporters will jump up with two feet and and hands in the air and say we've gotten a university under his watch. Yes! indeed we've gotten a university whose pioneer was the Jawara government. And all Yaya did was to implement what was in paper already and claimed to be pioneer and owner of it. A good question to ask here is, whose sons and daughters are going to the university? It is the poor farmers' sons and daughters. Our secretaries of state, governors, people in high political offices are shunning it and sending their sons, daughters and relatives to Western Universities. The very West that Yaya enjoys criticizing negatively each time the opportunity arises is where Gambians today with affiliation to his government are studying. Those who studied in West are given preference over those studying at home and so the status quo will still remain. Poor remain poor while the rich continue to be rich. In fact the only thing that matters now in Gambia in terms of employment is not your certificate or place of study but  your "Jolaism".

 In the long run the university is going to be producing semi illiterates because of the lack of strong foundation from elementary to upper basic. Not only have morals fallen, the education standard all together has fallen as new graduates shun the teaching field. Yes others will say he's built many schools. Yes my foot!  Where is the qualitative man power to man all these schools? As life becomes unbearable for 90% of Gambians, most teachers are dropping chalks for white collar jobs in order to be able to put food on their tables.

An unqualified teacher today cannot be posted outside his village or town because his/her salary cannot afford him boarding and feeding thoughtless of feeding his/her family which was left behind. So the technique now is to post UQ teachers in their villages/town to help them cut boarding cost.

Another question that TC  (Town Crier) will like to ask is this: with all the university and schools is our educational standard improving forward or backwards? An honest answer is backwards. Why? This is because Yaya and his cohorts have destabilized the educational system and syllabus that was in place for the worst and not for the better. Now the school calendar is attached to July 22 celebrations. Schools in the KMC and Banjul do not close for summer until after July 22 so that the kids will be forced to go stand under the hot sun to celebrate a so called revolution which has resulted in disappearances of their parents, brothers, uncles and name it. And when asked why the school calendar has been decentralized? The excuse is that schools in the provinces need to close early so the kids will be able to help their parents in the farms. One thing that Oga the agricultural "mix part" not expert is that the onset of rains in The Gambia have changed. That during the olden days we all used to close schools at the same time with the exception of one or two high schools, St. Augustine’s and St. Peters and yet we were able to effectively help our parents at the farms. So the point is not to help farmers. No! it is to allow the provincial schools to close early so the kids will come down to the Kombos to witness July 22nd celebrations and those in Kombo to march for and salute a dictator. This poor performance in schools in beginning to take its toll in the civil service. Police officers who can't read and write statements.  I conveyed Parrot's wife to the Police headquarter last year for some business. When she shouted out her name to a Police, he couldn't spell the name. He ended handing a paper and pen " here madam please wrote your name here" I almost vomited. Soldiers who are semi-illiterate and difficult to train because of their inability to understand simple statements. Our training instructors at Fajara Barracks complain a lot at the caliber of recruits we are now admitting into our ranks. I pity Gambia in the next 10 years with Oga still here. Teachers who teach in local languages instead of English.

Again last year my good friend Parrot and I encountered a police officer at a check point. While conversing with Parrot he stated thus " I born there". This was in response to a statement Parrot made of concerning his native village, which happened to be the same  as the so called Officer. So instead of telling Parrot I am from the same village or I am also a native of X village he uttered the stupid statement "I born there".  Oga should just give others with the technical know how to run the affairs of our nation if he has the Gambia at heart. Zimbabwe now has a bank note worth Z$100 billion and it cannot even buy bread. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7515823.stm) Is this what Oga wants for us? Upon our dead body. Wasalam.

TOWN CRIER