By Sulayman Waan
Karantaba Upper Basic and Senior Secondary School in Sami District, Central River Region north, has been hit with shortage of teachers, as students especially those in the higher classes are left worrying of what to do.
According to a source who spoke to The Voice “the school has no teachers for English language, Government, History, Literature, and Home Science since resumes in October after government relaxed restriction meant to control the spread of coronavirus pandemic.”
“Students of those subjects, especially those that will be doing their final examinations such as grades 8, 9, and 12 are very unhappy. They are also afraid of impossibility to complete the required syllabus for the exams if the trend continue,” the source added.
The shortage of teachers occurred after the transfered of English Language, History and Government teachers to Bansang Senior Secondary School, adding that also, both the Mathematics and Homes Science teachers have been transferred to schools in other regions, too.
“Currently no one is teaching those subjects,” the source said.
According to the source Sami Karantaba Ex-Student Association is now engaging stakeholders to ensure that enough teachers are brought to the school.
Karantaba Upper Basic and Senior School is situated at approximately 350 KM away from Banjul City, it has been struggling with a shortage of teachers over the years.
For his part, Lamin Sonko, Principal Education Officer (CEO) for Region 5 confirmed the shortage of teachers in that school, saying it happened to the school since 2019.
However, he said the Region 5 Directorate is working to address the deficiency in the school.
“The shortages of teachers in schools happened because many teachers usually apply for higher education, some want to go to The Gambia College and others want to go to universities,” he said.
He disclosed this year alone five teachers of that school have gone to the University of The Gambia to pursue their Bachelor degree programme which he said had contributed to the shortage.
