The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) has announced the resumption of grade 9 classes, after 4 months of stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a precautionary and containment measure of the spread of COVID-19 the government has since March 17th when Gambia confirmed its first reported case, the closure of schools. Government has now relaxed the restrictions of the state of public emergency, which allowed for the safe and gradual re-opening or resumption of business operations including schools.
Making the announcement recently, the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Claudiana A. Cole, confirmed that the Grade 9 students will resume normal classes on Wednesday June 24th 2020. She reported that the closure has also affected about 674, 300 students in conventional and recognized Madrasa schools; from ECD to senior secondary school levels; “thus, resulting to an estimated loss of 265 instructional school contact hours within the 87 days of the school closure”.
She went on: “The pandemic has brought lots of trauma and uncertainty to everybody. It has affected every sector of our society which education sector is not left out”. The minister lamented that the closure has seriously threatened the achievement of the annual target of 880 school contact hours.
Madam Cole informed that this decision followed a consultative meeting among stakeholders like Ministry of Health, Gambia Teachers Union, Conference of Principals, Association of Lower Basic School Heads (ALBASH), World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, and NATCOM. “The outcome of the consultative meeting between the ministry and other stakeholders indicated that there is need for schools to be re-open because continued closure of schools will not help education sector and the country in general”.
She added that the re-opening of grade 9 classes is in response to the concern expressed by parents, students and teachers as to when schools will resume normal classes.
“In keeping with the WHO health measures, and the Ministry of Health guidelines, my ministry will be closely working with our Regional Education Directorates to ensure compliance on the social and physical distancing and availability of Covid-19 PPEs,” Minister Cole assured public.