Director Describes Impact of Covid-19 in Schools as “Uncertainty”

The Regional Education Director for Region Two Directorate Lamin Fatajo has described the current Covid-19 impact on schools as uncertainty, delicate and complex. He said nobody expects that 2020/2021 school academic year would be closed unexpectedly. “It is a delicate situation for everybody not only for basic education ministry alone,”  Fatajo said.

Mr. Lamin Fatajo said there are so many challenges schools in his region are facing

particularly the private schools. Mr. Fatajo said some of those challenges centered on the unpaid monthly salary arrears for the teachers in private schools and the capacity of the schools in terms of revenue income. As a region Mr. Fatajo said his region is engaging the private school authorities and their proprietors to see how best they can settle the payment of their teacher’s salary arrears. He said almost all the stakeholders in the region are part of this engagement including the Gambia Teachers’ Union (GTU) officials.

“There are some schools that paid their teachers to date while others are yet to pay their teachers because they lack the capacity to generate funds as a result of Covid-19,” Mr. Fatajo revealed.

According to the region two education director, there are 113 private Upper Basic Schools (UBS) and 73 private Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) in Region two. He said despite the fact that some schools owed their teaching staff some monthly salaries but good number of those staff is willing to offer help to their schools in this trying time of Covid-19 pandemic.fatajo

Director Fatajo assured of his office’s readiness to continue engaging the private school authorities and their Proprietors for the payment of their staff monthly salary arrears immediately after grade 12 examinations.

“My office aim is to make sure that the relationship between the teachers and their school authorities remain cordial… let me say this, my office in consultation with the schools and parents/guardians made transferred of some students from their current school to another school because we found out that the situation in which some of those students are in their current schools cannot help them in sitting to their grade 12 exams,” director Fatajo said.

By Lamin B. Darboe

Information Officer, MoBSE