By: Adama Nyang
Despite the meeting with the Minister of Basic Education, there appears to be no end in sight to the mounting worries of the in-service final-year students of the Gambia College over the refusal of the college’s authorities to award them attestations.
At the time of going to press, the Gambia government had not settled the D75m that it reportedly owed the College as tuition fees from 2019 to date.
The concerned final-year students have constituted a task force to represent all in-service students in their 12th Sept. meeting with the education minister.
Many of the affected students, who have been attending lectures on MoBSE scholarships, expressed concern over their pending attestations as schools reopen on 25 September 2023.
The College is still adamant that the defaulting students, including those under MoBSE scholarship, must settle their arrears before they can lay hands on their attestations.
During the Sept.12 meeting, Minister Claudiana Cole said she was aware of the situation and that her ministry was working on it by engaging the Treasury for payments. The Treasury, she explained, is responsible for the disbursement of money to settle the students’ arrears. The basic education minister informed the meeting that the Treasury had advised MoBSE to give it a breakdown of the arrears to facilitate payment.
She promised that her ministry would engage the college to ease the challenges that MoBSE-sponsored students are faced with.
“We understand how distressing and frustrating things can be but they will never wish for this to happen and this issue will be resolved soon,” Madam Cole assured.