Special Report by: Lamin B. Darboe
Attended by the representatives of the Mayoress of Banjul City Council (BCC) and Imam of Banjul, Rohey Malick Lowe and Cherno Alieu Mass Kah, President Adama Barrow the ex-students of the school was represented by his sister, committee of Banjul Muslim Elders under the chairmanship of Alhaji Alieu Mboge, chairman Board of Directors of the School and other board members, representative of Regional Director, Region one, representatives of the GMSSS 1977 intake among others.
School enrollment
In his address to the grandaunts, the Principal, The Gambia Muslim Senior Secondary School, Lamin K. Marong informed parents that there were 328 students who were graduated. Out of which 311 were from the English section while 17 students were from the Arabic (Madarasa) section of his institution.
In the English section he went on, 142 students were boys while 169 students were girls and Arabic section 11 student’s wee boys and 6 were girls. Principal Marong described graduation as a celebration for achievement of one’s academic dreams.
For us at the academic staff, it is an occasion we celebrated with as feeling of fulfillment of our responsibility to the gradaunts, their parents and the Government of The Gambia in particular.
According to Marong, a great deal of resources, efforts and time have been expended these graduating students during their senior secondary school career thus subjecting them to the teaching and examination of syllabus, extra study classes, weekend, holiday summer classes and promotional examinations were all conducted to prepare them for the WASSCE 2019.
Gov’t fulfilled its responsibility
He informed the gathering that the Government of The Gambia has fulfilled its responsibility by paying for their tuition, examination fees, text books, which were purchased and supplied to them in their grades 10 and paid staff salaries without default throughout their career in the school.
“Those who made the best used of this unique opportunity which I had never gone through during my school career in the 1980s, will certainly proceed to the next tier of the education pyramid of The Gambia,” Principal Marong stated.
Commendation/Advised to Graduands
He commended the graduating students for their efforts and perseverance during their long stayed at GMSSC while also urging them not to rest on their laurels for West Africa Senior Secondary School Leaving Certificate (WASSCE) which he said is just an Anglophone West Africa qualification and not a continental or international one.
He told the outgoing students that it is just the beginning of the foundation for the minimum international standards called the first degree or Bachelor degree in academia.
If you choose to continue on the academic ladder, the terrain is a rough one, so be courageous and resilient and if you also choose to search for greener pasture outside the borders of The Gambia, do it rightly and judiciously in avoidance of the seismic waves and storms of the wild seas and oceans.
Marong appealed to the outgoing students not to attempt the perilous journey to Europe through the desert and sea, its 100% suicidal while stressing that it is certainly not an easy task to succeed in life but with good guidance, prayers and perseverance, one can succeed in The Gambia without going out of the country.
As future leaders he advised, the country heavily invested in them in order for them to become responsible citizens who will respect their fellow citizens, rule of law, thus urging them not to engage themselves in anything that is against the country’s culture, religious faiths.
Advice to Parents
GMSSS Principal Marong applauded the parents of his school for making their children to what they are today which he described as a great investment which started 12-years ago.
Marong is optimistic that as parents, their investment will bring good returns to their children and their families and he called on the parents to always encourage their children so that they can further their education into higher heights.
Academic Report
On his school academic annual report, Lamin K. Marong informed the gathering that last academic year, 2018/19 was a successful year for his institution.
He said his students performance in WASSCE and its standing on the National League Table has not been impressive since 2016 and the trend did not improve until the Board and Management stepped up intervention strategies to curb the negative trend.
According to Marong, 2018 WASSCE, only 10 students out of which 7 boys and 3 girls obtained UTG admission requirement thus the overall best performance in WASSCE 2018 was registered by Saidou Jobe of Grade 12S1 with 8 Credits and one Pass, followed by Lamin Jah of Grade 12C1 also with 8 Credits and One Pass.
Sainabou Nyang and Ramatoulie Kanteh both in Grade 12S2 scored 7 Credits and One Pass each while the overall performance of the candidates in both Proper and Annex Centers followed the same negative trend, hence there is need to investigate the contributing factors for the poor performance.
Negative trends in WASSCE
He said situational analysis of the factors contributing to the negative trends in WASSCE was carried out by his school management and the following were found to be responsible namely: Natural Disaster, Location of the school (Banjul Half Die), and philosophy for the establishment of the School, MoBSE- Criterion for allocation of SIG, teachers, parents, and student’s factors among others.
Mitigating Strategies
GMSSS Principal Lamin K. Marong informed that his school management implemented the following mitigating strategies since the onset of the reform namely: reviewing the promotion of policy in July 2018 in order to enhance the standard of students’ performance, admission policy for in-coming transfer and the GABECE candidates was review and only those who fulfilled the minimum entry requirements were admitted into the school this academic year.
“The stream size of each Grade was reduced from 12 to 8 classes and the class size was also reduced to 45 to 55 depending on their performance in the promotional exam in July 2018,” Marong informed parents.
He gave the summery of report of the departmental activities of the year under review like English, Mathematics, Science, Commerce, Social studies, the Vocational, Computer studies, Islamic studies, Madarasa just to mention few.
Marong highlighted some development projects undertaken by his administration in 2018/19 academic year namely; installation of Sola panel by MoBSE, for the PMI/PS1/PELA projects in the school, Madarasa section Computer Lab fully operational, food vendors market renovated and others.
Challenges
According to Marong, his school is facing lot of challenges such as poor enrolment for 2018/19 session was not met, late payment of term tranches of the SIG really a concern, rate of SIG per student be improve, SIG made parents to relax, funding gaps in both SIG and subvention allocations for his school should be address.
Guest Speaker’s address
For his part, the guest speaker on the occasion, Mr. Bai Mass Saine as a graduating student of the school in the year 1990 informed the outgoing students that they should ask themselves what they need to succeed after completing their senior secondary school career.
“Believe it or not, discipline and good conduct are the most important traits to help you succeed in life and whatever you feel is missing in your education, do your best to complete it with discipline and good behaviors,” Mr. Saine urged outgoing students.
Mr. Saine urged students to set themselves clear goals if only they want to achieve something good in their life time while calling on them not to succumb into peer pressure that would lead them into failure in life.
He said as outgoing students, they should develop the ability to work as a team no matter how good they adding that they need to think wisely before messing their lives.
“Develop positive attitude towards people and entrust your affairs to Allah the Almighty and always have the believe that your success is entirely in the hands of Allah the Almighty,” Mr. Saine advised outgoing students.
As part of the ceremony, a new Multi-Purpose Stage was inaugurated named after, Dr Ebrima Malick Samba. Other speakers at the occasion include: representative from Banjul Muslim Elders, Alhaji Alieu Mboge, and Baboucarr Mbaye among others.
Shortly before the end of the ceremony, new School Counselors were introduced to the rest of the students and later leadership mantle was handed over to the incoming student head boy and girl of the school. Prizes, certificates and gifts were both awarded to the outgoing and other students of the school.