FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)
7 April 2008
editorial
The answer of the Secretary of State for Education to the question posed by Sidia Jatta, the member for Wuli, on free education for girls, at the current session of the National Assembly, needs clarification.
In answer to the Question the Secretary of State for Education, Fatou Lamin Faye indicated that "regardless of whether the schools the girls attend is public or private, most of these students receive some form of bursary."
What does "most" mean? Anyhow if we add up her figures the total is 35,628. Assuming the total enrolment of girls to be 48,016, this means that 74% or ¾ benefit from sponsorship while ¼ do not. What category constitutes this one-quarter and why do they not benefit?
It is evident from the answer of the Secretary of State that there are three scholarship funds. The Scholarship Trust Fund for Girls seems to cover the North Bank, Lower River Region, Central River Region and Upper River Region. All female students in senior secondary schools and upper basic schools - 14,222 of them benefit from the package, which covers fees and tuition. But in addition, it covers exam fees for students in Grades 9 and 12.
The other fund is the President's Empowerment of Girl's Education Project (PEGEP), which pays school fees for the Upper Basic School students and contributes D375 per student at the Senior Secondary School level. This should cover all the female students in Upper basic schools and senior secondary schools in Banjul and Kanifing Municipality. However, the senior secondary schools girls we spoke to said that they pay the same fees as the boys.
The third fund is the Ambassador's Girls Scholarship Project, which benefits 800 female students in the Western Region.
Foroyaa will request for an interview with the Secretary of State to clarify these issues so that parents and guardians will be fully informed.
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