By: Haddy Touray
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MOBSE), Louis Moses Mendy, has confirmed that textbooks for lower and upper basic schools will be only available sometime in the middle of the first term.
This confirmation came amid growing concerns among teachers and students about the lack of textbooks following the beginning of the academic year on Monday.
Teachers and students reported to schools only to realize that textbooks have yet to be supplied.
“The truth is we (MoBSE) had a challenge to supply books to the schools just this morning (Monday 23rd September, 2024). We released those for the senior secondary schools and the ones for the lower basics and upper basics are being produced in India as we speak. As soon as they are finalized, they will be shipped into the country for onward distribution to schools in the country. We hope to have this by the mid of the first term,” PS Mendy said.
“Hopefully if everything goes by the plans, these books will be here by the mid of this first term because the production have already started in India. As soon as they are done with the production, these books will be shipped for onward distribution to schools,” he added.
When quizzed why the these textbooks were not printed by the Gambia National Printing and Publishing Corporation (GNPPC), PS Mendy responded that the GNPPC lacks the capacity to print such voluminous amount of text books. He revealed that the GNPPC has to contract an Indian printing company to deliver such an amount of textbooks even for senior secondary schools.
PS Mendy described as unnecessary the fears that lack of these textbooks in Gambian schools will have a huge negative impact on the education of pupils and students, hinting that the Ministry has strategic plans that addresses such scenario, especially with the availability of well-trained teachers at the early education level to senior secondary level to teach their various subjects without trouble.
A senior education officer at Region One Education Directorate also confirmed that there are no textbooks for pupils and students of his region, describing the situation as “very unfortunate”. He pointed out that the lack of textbooks will have consequences for them as some teachers find it very difficult to impart lessons without textbooks.
He expressed dismay over the MoBSE’s decision to contract the printing of these textbooks to an Indian company in India, arguing that local printing press could have been contracted to do such works in segments to avoid such a “catastrophe” in the sector.