The school and educational system I want

The school and educational system I want - Alpha

ALPHA JOBE, NIORO JATABA SANKANDI SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL, THE GAMBIA

As a student, especially one from a third world country and learning in one of the most rural localities in the country, students’ perception and demands on education and how they wish to be educated, may perhaps be somewhat less than what students in other parts of the world, or even other parts of this country maybe asking for, including myself. This is simply because, most of the basics of quality education are unavailable to us.

However, without the slightest intention of fantasising about the ‘supposed’ standard of education, and having completed part of my schooling career in the capital city of The Gambia, I have engaged with my colleagues on individual , personal and collective levels, to see what their ideas of education are and how they wish to be educated. I have merged these with mine to write this essay.

Disclaimer: do not be surprised that most of them do not demand more than their basic rights. To them, these are privileges and having them will miraculously enhance the quality of their education.

To kick off, a majority of us wish to have enough qualified, motivated teachers ready to handle relevant subject areas. We believe that we lack enough teachers, as one teacher teaching two or more subjects makes him or her ineffective in one or more of the subjects. There are several teachers whose performance in their second or third subjects are unsatisfactory.

Moreover, most of my colleagues also hold the belief that most of the teachers are not ready. In an attempt to explain this, a couple of them pointed out that teachers come to class just because they are employed as teachers. They don’t have the passion. From my personal view, the government, through the Ministry of Education can improve the conditions of teachers. Teaching is seen as a poor man’s job in The Gambia and thus most teachers are in the field because they have no choices. Motivations in the form of incentives can be a good form of encouraging them and thereby making them ready and passionate to teach.

As well as the issue of teaching staff, I would lament the lack of availability of standard facilities such as libraries and laboratories. We want a school with all the facilities we need in order to enhance our performance and opportunities. For instance, most of us have never even seen a microscope, and yet we have been taught the use of microscopes and even drawn and labelled them.

Furthermore, we wholeheartedly wish for the availability of stationery, especially books. I admit that there is a small library in the school, but it has little or no relevant books for our syllabus. For our performance to improve, we need a standard library with books relevant to our areas of study, and even an Internet connection with computers.

The preceding paragraph draws my attention to the need for a science curriculum for the high school. Some of my colleagues revealed that they want to be medical doctors and nurses but the lack of a science curriculum has forced them to study the arts or commercial arenas, as those are the only choices available. We want a school that can provide us with any area or field of study we want to pursue.

In addition, we need a better environment than that which is provided for us. Our school’s environment is somewhat noisy, as it is close to the road, and sometimes dangerous as we have encountered many road accidents at the school gate and on the way to school. The facilities are not well enough built to deal with the ever changing weather conditions. Extreme cold and hot seasons sometimes become very unbearable, and thereby rendering the environment not conducive enough for teaching or learning.

Importantly, we need a school and an educational system that promotes equity instead of equality, or selective ability/ performance grouping. The award of privileges is driven by the fact that most of the time support is given to the better performing students, since there is not enough support for all students. I think the support should be given to those who need it in order to close the gap. But instead, the gap is widened when the entire focus is given to those performing better, and those that perform better do so because they have all the stationery and, in most cases, all the necessary support. We wish and hope for a school where support will be given according to need.

In conclusion, if these demands are met, I believe we can do better in our education to make a greater impact.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

ALPHA JOBE • August 21, 2023

Chess in Schools - What impact does it have?

By Dan Staples • February 21, 2025

Chess is a low cost, high impact educational intervention. It knows no boundaries of age, gender, faith, ethnicity or disability, and can be played anywhere at any time. The game fosters intellectual and emotional skills crucial to a child’s wider development. Chess in Schools & Communities (CSC) is a nationwide charity founded in 2009 which delivers the educational and social benefits of learning chess to disadvantaged communities across the country. We work in a variety of community settings: libraries, hospitals, youth centres, homes for older people and prisons. Through our Schools’ Programme we currently teach chess in over 300 schools every week and support a further 2,400 schools with tuition, equipment, access to our curriculum and training. In schools, CSC’s unique approach is to run chess lessons during the school day as well as traditional chess clubs after school. Our lessons follow a bespoke 30-week curriculum designed to support other areas of the primary school learning, most notably mathematics. The course is suitable for children with no prior knowledge of board games and takes them from complete beginners to proficient players over the course of an academic year. Lessons are delivered by trained CSC tutors supported by school staff. The lessons are for whole classes of 30 children and typically take place in KS2 in primary school. Teaching during the school day ensures our programme is completely inclusive: no child is excluded from chess activities and children with special educational needs flourish. Girls, often under-represented in typical chess clubs, thrive in our lessons and tend to perform extremely well in our tournaments. In addition to these core activities, CSC also organises the London Chess Classic, a world-class chess tournament with a schools’ festival attended by up to 2,500 of our pupils, and ChessFest, a celebration of the game of chess which culminates in the charity taking over Trafalgar Square for the day to offer free, familyfriendly chess activities to members of the public. On 7th July 2024, a record 23,300 people attended the fourth edition of ChessFest ( www.chess-fest.com ). Our lessons plans contain large amounts of mathematical content particularly relevant to Key Stage 2 in primary schools: Numeracy – children are encouraged to constant keep track of the numerical value of their collection of chess pieces relative to their opponent. Coordinates - it is impossible to describe chess moves without using the coordinates assigned to the squares on the board. Geometry - when teaching in lower KS2, we often find our teaching of the chessboard introduces children to basic geometric vocabulary: horizontal, vertical, rows, columns, diagonals. In addition, when teaching the tricky knight move, many of our tutors use an L-shaped piece of paper to lay on the chess board and then talk about rotations and reflections of that shape to generate all the possible moves. Algorithms - there are various technical tasks in chess, especially when it comes to forcing checkmate. Our curriculum explicitly describes these as algorithms. For example, when delivering checkmate with a king and queen against a bare king, our pupils learn the Closing the Box method. Basic proofs - when learning how the pieces move around a chessboard, our curriculum sets children various problems that require simple mathematical proofs. For example, can the children find a way to move a knight from the bottom left corner of the chessboard to the top right in six moves? In addition to this mathematical knowledge, learning chess also develops various skills that are critical to STEM subjects in general: problem solving logical thought decision making visualisation concentration skills If you are interested in having chess taught in your school please get in touch! www.chessinschools.co.uk – dan@chessinschools.co.uk BIOGRAPHY Dan has worked for CSC since 2011. He started as a tutor in London and became London Coordinator before moving to Yorkshire. While he still loves teaching chess in schools, he coordinates CSC’s work in Yorkshire and other counties and deals with Tutor Recruitment outside London and Training, is National Library Coordinator and Deputy Safeguarding Lead. He is married and has two children. As well as working with chess he also enjoys playing

STEP Starter Sacks: Connecting traditionally nomadic families with preschool education

By Maureen Finn • February 17, 2025

A country should judge the effectiveness of its public services through the experiences of those who fare least well. In Scotland, where many acknowledge the education system to be progressive, children from the Scottish Gypsy/Traveller community have been educationally disadvantaged for generations. Frequently, the children receive no schooling or they opt out at an early age. Scottish Gypsy/Travellers are from a tradition of nomadic communities across the UK, which also includes Romani Gypsies, Welsh Travellers and Irish Travellers. A key concern for communities is sustaining their culture. Most believe that schools fail in preparing their children for Gypsy/Traveller lives. Boys often leave at age 11 to take up opportunities offered through family businesses. Girls leave to be trained in domestic skills by mothers. Recent research findings (STEP, 2023) showed that the involvement of women was key to developing culturally relevant school experiences. However, the modest knowledge that women had of the modern education system was largely based on their own past experiences, which included an inflexible curriculum and frequently involved racism and discrimination from fellow pupils and staff. The women in the study were unaware of the changes to the system over the past 10 years. For example, while pre-school nursery is encouraged and places are free in Scotland, few mothers took up the offer—to do so would be a failure in their maternal duties. The research recommended that educators collaborate with communities to increase women’s knowledge of the system, to empower them to make decisions about their own, and their families’ education in line with SDG5. Communities’ members and educators collaborated with STEP to create STEP Starter Sacks, a culturally relevant play-based programme targetting pre-school-aged children and their mothers. A series of Sacks contained materials that encouraged women to participate in learning activities at home to prepare children for school. More strategically, the sacks also encouraged connections between mothers and nursery / school educators. Through these relationships, we hoped, mothers would gain trust and discover the value of education for all their children not to mention themselves. Moreover, staff at participating centres received training about Gypsy/Traveller culture and using appropriate ways to encourage parental participation. Each sack was colour coded for its contents: , literacy (red), science (yellow) and health and wellbeing (green), each designed to address some known barriers, including: Social rules and routines, helping children’s familiarity and confidence before starting school Mitigating barriers presented through low adult literacy, activity cards with QR codes directed mothers to video content on the STEP website To encourage a sense of ownership and belonging, Gypsy/Traveller culture was explicitly represented in the curriculum materials. To encourage sustained engagement, new Sacks were introduced at four-monthly intervals. The programme has been running for three years. Over 400 women continue to be involved. Their knowledge and understanding of the current education system has increased and we have evidence of changes in decision-making, expectations and aspirations around their children’s education, particularly for girls. “Obviously, education is important for anybody but, like years ago, what it was like for Travellers—you'd get married, you'd cook and you'd clean. You'd have kids. That was the women's life. But I don't want that for my girls. I want them to get an education and enjoy their life a little bit. They don't need a man to provide for them. They can do it themself. Obviously, eventually get married, yes. I just don't want that to be their life plan.” Female, 17-40 The programme has had significant impact on the uptake of nursery places as well as school attendance in older children. For the women, they have reported increased confidence in supporting their children’s learning at home. Most importantly, some described an increased understanding of their own agency. They have collaborated with staff, reaching shared understandings of their cultural needs and expectations. We have also extended the programme, opening local opportunities for women to develop their own literacy. These women now have enhanced capacity (resources, skills, social capital and connections), which we hope will lead to future benefits. BIOGRAPHY Maureen began her career as an artist and a teacher in Scotland. She has worked in schools and galleries throughout the UK using the visual arts to inspire new forms of participation and inclusion in education. She has undertaken research and evaluation for national bodies including The Arts Council of England, NESTA, Scottish Book Trust and The Scottish Government. She is currently Director of STEP, a Knowledge Exchange Centre at the University of Edinburgh, which supports sustainable education for traditionally nomadic communities. Maureen’s doctoral research was in digital participative research methods.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world"

By Sam Tiwari • February 14, 2025

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world,” wrote a young Anne Frank, at just 14 years old, during one of the darkest periods in modern history. Her words, penned during war, persecution and loss, continue to resonate today, reminding us that even in times of despair, we possess the power to bring about change—both within ourselves and the world around us. As I reflect on the state of the world today, Anne’s message of hope and determination feels more urgent than ever. It is a call to action, a reminder that no matter the challenges, the possibility for change is always within reach. But what does this have to do with the right to education? In my view—everything. Since it was founded in 2009 to honour Steve Sinnott’s legacy and lifetime of commitment to education for all, The Steve Sinnott Foundation has remained steadfast in its mission to advocate for the right to education for every child, everywhere. Through diverse global initiatives, the Foundation has provided access to quality learning in myriad forms. But at its heart lies a powerful belief: education is much more than simply acquiring literacy and numeracy. It is a lifelong process that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and a deep commitment to justice and equality. No child should ever be denied that opportunity. Over the past two decades, significant progress has been made towards expanding access to education. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their successor, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), have focused on increasing global enrolment and completion rates in primary and secondary education. Encouragingly, data shows these indicators are improving, signaling a positive trend. Numerous innovative initiatives are breaking down barriers to education, and it’s increasingly recognised that achieving one development goal cannot be done in isolation from others. In my work in the field of reproductive health and rights, the interconnectedness of these challenges is evident. In Sub Saharan Africa, for example, a lack of access to contraception remains a major barrier to girls’ education. Each year, around 4 million girls drop out of school due to pregnancy. Without reproductive health services, many young women are forced to leave the classroom, setting off a cycle of lost opportunities that impacts not only their futures but also those of their communities. Inadequate access to safe and clean sanitation facilities, including menstrual hygiene resources, means girls often miss school regularly. Global crises such as climate change and conflict have displaced millions of children, further disrupting their access to consistent education. The scope of these challenges is vast, but so are the efforts to address them. A growing number of inspirational individuals, organisations, and governments are coming together, recognising that complex problems cannot be solved in isolation. Education, health, gender equality, and access to technology are deeply intertwined, and collaborative solutions are needed, ones that reflect the complexity of lived experiences and ensure that no one is left behind. This brings me back to where I began. The barriers to education must be broken because access to learning has the power to transform lives. It changes hearts and minds, creating spaces for dialogue, reconciliation, and collaboration. There are millions of children and young people who could make this world a better place if only they had the opportunity to realise their potential. Education is the cornerstone of a just and equal society. It enables the formation of ideas, empowers individuals to question the status quo, and equips them with the tools to improve the world. Whether in classrooms or communities, the true power of education lies not just in the transmission of knowledge but in its ability to foster change. It creates ripples of positive transformation that extend far beyond the individual, reaching entire societies. In a world too often marked by division and uncertainty, education holds the key to a brighter, more equitable future. And as Anne so beautifully reminded us, we need not wait a single moment to begin. BIOGRAPHY Sam Tiwari is a dynamic leader in global philanthropy and the non-profit sector, with over 20 years of experience advancing human rights and social justice across diverse regions. Her journey began with community organisations in North India, where she gained firsthand insight into the structural and societal barriers faced by women and girls in social, economic and political participation. Sam has since worked across diverse sectors such as women’s cooperatives, education, health and humanitarian response, connecting resources to causes that are tackling some of the biggest challenges facing people and planet. Currently, Sam leads the Philanthropy team at MSI Reproductive Choices, a global organisation championing reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. She also serves on the boards of the Steve Sinnott Foundation and Dignity Alliance International.