A history of education in the Gambia from 1901 to the present day: a study of the western contribution to education in the Gambia during the present century.

Abstract

Part I of the thesis provides the background necessary for a study of the development of education in The Gambia during the present century. The country's peculiar geographical position, the importance of the River Gambia, the main tribes and their history are clearly subjects of importance. Educational developments prior to I903 are also examined. The efforts of the missions, determined as they were in spite of many difficulties to provide education, were to bear fruit. Then in 1882 the Government moved towards the control and direction of education, when the first Education Ordinance was passed. This provided for a Board of Education, a part-time Inspector of Schools and grants-in-aid, determined mainly by results. Part II is concerned with educational policy and control since 1903. Developments based on the Education Ordinances of I903, 1935 and I946 and the Education Act of 1963 clearly show how the Government gradually exercised more and more control. Generous grants, a full-time officer to administer the Department and extension in the provision led to an intensified control over education. In 1963 the Board of Education was replaced by an Advisory Council on Education. The pattern which had evolved by 1968 makes it clear that intensification of control will go on, though there is no immediate possibility of complete control by the Government. Part III is devoted to the development of education - primary, secondary, teacher training, technical and vocational, adult education, and the welfare of pupils - during the period since I903.Primary education has maintained its continuity since the 1820's, although individual schools have had their vicissitudes. Bathurst and its environs are now reasonably well provided with primary schools; the Provinces, although they are being given priorities, still need a major thrust forward to catch up with the capital. Secondary education has remained very selective; even so it has not been able to acquire as high a prestige as that in other West African countries. Moreover, until recently, its development has been haphazard. Teacher training has a chequered history, and its position even today is not very encouraging. Technical and vocational education has suffered from prejudice against manual labour, from non-availability of teaching staff, and above all from the limitations imposed by the non-industrial bias of the country. Very little has been done in adult education: literacy classes on a small scale have been conducted in Bathurst and the Provinces, mostly by voluntary bodies. The welfare of pupils is a joint responsibility of the family and tribe on the one hand and schools on the other - the moral and physical aspects of welfare are generally looked after satisfactorily. Part IV is simply entitled "Context". Chapter XIII seeks to place the development of Western-type education in The Gambia in a social and economic setting and Chapter XIV briefly reviews the development of education in The Gambia alongside that in other English-speaking West African countries.