By Kebba Ansu Manneh
The Education Student Association (EDUSA) of University of The Gambia (UTG) has on Sunday January 27th, 2019 set on motion to meander the country in a bid to engaging Gambian students on the importance of Career Choice Development as well as brainstorm with teachers on the significance of Teacher Commitment and discipline in schools.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Times, Yankuba Manneh, the President of EDUSA said the nationwide tour is meant to reach out to schools in the hinterland with a view to engaging twenty (20) schools on Career Choice Development, adding that rural students lacked such opportunities that will prepare them better to choosing their career pathway.
“Career Choice Development is something missing in our education curriculum and this is having an adverse effect on the future of the Gambian students and we feel it incumbent upon us to reach out to schools in the hinterland so that they can better be prepared to choose the best career that they will pursue in the future,” Manneh disclosed.
This is the second times EDUSA is embarking on such a mission after they successfully visited twenty schools off the road last year with a similar intent to visiting twenty more schools off the road this year. According to EDUSA President, the essence is to inspire and guide these rural students to making a good career choice before they even finish school.
“Many student have no idea about what career to choice especially the rural students, this is why we are going all out to reach them and sensitize them on the need to choosing a good career. We also want to engage the teachers on the significance of teacher commitment and the need to rein store discipline in school”, Manneh explained the thematic areas to be discussed during the one-week tour that brings together forty EDUSA students of the University.
Dilating further on the importance on Career Choice Development the EDUSA president revealed that a the association has conducted a research at the University of The Gambia to ascertain how many students actually choose a career before they finished school, noting that results from this sampling reveals that about 80% of the student did not choose any career before finishing school.
“The results we garnered from the UTG compels EDUSA to reach out to Gambian students in a bit to exposing them to Career Choice Development so that students can be able to choose which career to follow after finishing their secondary school. Many Gambian students choose wrong fields while they are in school but usually before they realize that the career they choose for themselves is the wrong one,” Manneh told The Times.
Buba Sama erstwhile president of EDUSA said this mission is part of activities that has been formulated by his former executive, revealing that Career Choice Development sessions are something that is virtually missing in the curriculum and the need to reach out to rural student becomes eminent.
“We have been confronting with situations that leads to the failure of many Gambians because of choosing a wrong career and this we intent to arrest through engaging students and teachers so that students can make the right career choice that will go a long way in laying a strong foundation for choosing the right career path,” Sama revealed.
He continues to reveal that EDUSA’s last year engagement was that of a fruitful one going by the feedbacks obtained from the schools visited, adding that such a success story is what motivated the current executive to replicate the worthwhile venture.
“This package we (EDUSA) are rolling is not only going to end in the rural communities but as well in the Greater Banjul Area. We have the quiz and debating competitions in our agenda that we feel will be more befitting for the urban students because the needs of the rural students is different from that of their urban compatriots,” Ex-president Sama told The Times.
“There is no doubt that Teacher Commitment is something that is needed to be strengthen in this country this is why the ministry is behind us to engaging the teachers on this important issue even though it not an easy issue to dealt with but we are optimistic that the teachers will understand and accept us as family hence we all have the same intention for the progress of The Gambian students in reminding them what Teacher Commitment is all about,” said Alhagie Barrow also an executive member of Education Student Association of University of The Gambia.
He said EDUSA will engage the teachers professionally to reinvigorate their thoughts on the need for commitment. He noted that if teachers are not committed, failures for students will follow suit and in the long run it will have a negative impact on our overall education system.
Barrow, who claimed he is a victim of choosing a wrong Career path, added that engaging both students and teachers on these thematic areas of career choice, teacher commitment and discipline will go a long way in addressing the cankerworm that is gravely affecting the lives of many school leavers.
Officials of EDUSA expresses their gratitude to the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Teachers Union among other philanthropists for bankrolling the mission of meandering the country with the purpose of making life better for Gambians.