The school I want to learn in

The school I want to learn in - Hadassah

HADASSAH E. M. MORRIS, ST JOSEPH’S SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL, BANJUL, THE GAMBIA

“A great career without a great education is only a dream”.

A school is an institution where knowledge is passed onto students for their betterment. A school is also an institution which is designed for learning and passing discipline and good morals to students. School is an educational centre but the school I want to learn in is an important choice. The school I want to learn in is a school of discipline, gender equality, quality education, clean water and sanitation, and partnership for the goals.

Firstly, discipline is one of the main goals needed to achieve in the school I want to learn in. Quoting from Google, “Discipline is the practice of training people to obey rules and it is also a code of behaviour”. Being a disciplined student from an institution enables me to choose, persevere with actions, thoughts and behaviour which leads to improvement and success. If I attend a school where discipline is valued it will help me to stay focused on my goals. As a student going to school it is not all about learning, but it also teaches me to obey rules and creates a place which can build a future for me.

Secondly, gender equality is also another main issue. In some schools, a particular gender is not treated fairly, to be specific girls! People mostly have the thought that girls are meant for housekeeping and not schooling which is a wrong concept. Fundamental human rights like gender equality should be promoted in schools for a better learning environment. Education is a vital key and every single being has the right to it. Students, most especially girls, should be treated with dignity, love and respect because if they are treated like outcasts in schools, it will cause much harm to them. The school I want to learn in is a school that says yes to gender equality and disapproves of inequality.

Moreover, a school without quality education is like a sauce that has no taste. I will love to learn in a school where the quality of education is high and there are good teachers to impart knowledge to us, and not just collect salaries without doing their jobs. I need teachers that are nice but strict, teachers that will encourage me but make sure I succeed, teachers who love to do their jobs willingly without grumbling, and teachers who will always be there to correct me when I’m wrong.

However, clean water and sanitation is also an important factor to consider. Learning in a school where there is not only discipline, gender equality, good and quality education, is not the only thing I want, but also a school where there is clean water to sustain and promote good health and sanitation. Sanitation is having access to facilities for safe disposal of human waste, as well as having the ability to maintain hygienic conditions through services such as garbage collection, industrial waste management and waste water disposal. If a school has these properties it will improve the wellbeing among students and teachers, and also promote cleanliness.

Lastly, I will like to learn in a school where there is partnership for the goals. Partnership for the goals actually means working together to achieve our goals. As the Gambian pledge says, “It is a combination of government and people working together in unison and harmony that will lead us to achieve the progress that we all desire”. In order to achieve our goals we need partnership. A school might not have the resources to provide all the needs of the students in school, but if there are partnerships, like the collaboration of private agencies, philanthropists and well-to-do people, they will be able to sponsor the school or students by helping to provide for their needs. This could include technological facilities, reading books, and lots more, which will cause more hunger for learning. Without partnerships, not all goals will be achieved because the resources needed are limited but when we work together towards the same goals, we have the power to achieve them all. Sharing goals means sharing a vision.

In conclusion, the reason I will love to learn in a school that has these qualities is to turn into a star and future leader, that will also help others to achieve their goals without any complications in The Gambia, and the world at large.

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HADASSAH E. M. MORRIS • August 14, 2023

36 Bicycles. Countless Futures in The Gambia.

By Ann Beatty • May 20, 2026

How a simple act of practical solidarity is transforming the journey to school in The Gambia’s Central River Region North Policies have been written. Schools have been built. Yet for many children in The Gambia’s Central River Region North, access to education is still measured in kilometres, not opportunity.

Education for Hope in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Times

By Laura Griffin • May 13, 2026

‘In a single hour vast tracts of shaded woodland became a jumble of torn trees and upturned soil, exposed to the glare of the summer sun. Such land-clearing events are rare, but forests exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. I’m told that the Chinese character for ‘catastrophe’ is the same as that which represents the word ‘opportunity’. And, the blowdown, while catastrophic, presented opportunities for many species.’ (Wall Kimmerer, 2003: 89). In the context of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (Stein, 2021) what kinds of education for hope might support children’s and young people’s critical engagement in local and global issues? In the spirit of exploring the possibilities of hope further, this short article focuses on the area of global citizenship and sustainabilityrelated education. It will briefly open by sharing commonalities across pedagogical approaches that take up the concept and act of hope more critically, and close by offering reflective questions for educators, with suggestions for further reading. Perhaps it is a kind of hope that is grounded in the present, in future reimagining(s), in ethical solidarity, and an acknowledgement of our deep entanglement with the living metabolism of planet earth 1 our singular home (UNESCO, 2021); a hope that engages with complex root causes and lived realities of multiple overlapping crises in critically reflexive and contextually relevant ways. As McCloskey notes, ‘Hope can fire our collective imagination and critical consciousness as a mainspring to activism and intervention in the world.’ (2025: 3). Commonalities across critical pedagogical approaches to hope include: Acknowledging the context of a ‘seamless single story of progress, development and human evolution’ (Andreotti, V.D.O., 2021b Relating to social and ecological justice and the wellbeing of people and planet Using participatory, action-orientated and inquiry-based learning processes Exploring diverse worldviews and perspectives Practising grounding in the present with opening up possibilities for change (relational, embodied, response-able 2 ) Experiencing ‘struggle’ in different forms (dialogical, selfreflexive, open-ended) Engaging individual and collective agency, action and activism Looking for lifelong and life-wide learning and unlearning. 1 See ‘Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness’, in Machado de Oliveira Andreotti. 2021a 2 See ‘Crossing Borders’ in 2 Depth Education “Depth Education and the Possibility of GCE Otherwise, 2021b. Source: Andreotti, V. 2021a & 2021b., Atif, A. (2025)., Bourn, D. 2021., Bryan. A. and Mochizuki,Y., 2024., Giroux, H.A. 2025., Meade, E. 2025. Whilst engaging in the concept and act of hope more critically reflect upon: What kinds of education for hope might you explore further and why? How might you provide generative spaces for engaging in diverse worldviews and perspectives? In what ways can you facilitate individual and collective agency? How might you support learners’ practice grounding in the present in order to relate differently? In what ways can you support learners in navigating complex root causes and lived realities of local and global issues? As Chief Ninawa Hini Kui affirms, ‘The future depends much less on the images we project ahead than on our capacity to repair relations and build relationships differently in the present.’ (Andreotti et al, 2023: 73. An invitation for further reading: Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future . d’Abreu, C., Belgeonne, C., Bourn, D. and Hatley, J. (2025) ‘Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future’. DERC Research Paper 24. London: UCL Institute of Education. Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism. Machado de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2021a) ‘Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism’ , London: Penguin Random House. Development Education and Hope . McCloskey, S. (2025). (ed) ‘Development Education and Hope’. ‘Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review’ , Vol. 41, Autumn. Centre for Global Education, Belfast. Link to and download the full reference list here

I heard it said today by a friend that “You learn a language best when you use it to speak and write about things that are important to you. ”

By Susan Piper • May 6, 2026

This summed up to me about why I volunteer for the Hands Up Project. HUP is a charity trust which, through its network of volunteers, connects children around the world with young people in Palestine. By means of online interaction, drama and storytelling activities, it enables the use of creativity and selfexpression to promote mutual understanding, personal growth, and the development of English language skills. I joined HUP in 2020 during COVID. After going to Palestine in 2017, I wanted to get more involved in working with Palestinian children in schools. HUP gave me the opportunity to link up with schools in the West Bank and Gaza. Every week I’d tell them stories from all over the world, then we’d discuss it, play games and I’d get them to retell it. Sometimes we would work from their coursebook English for Palestine’ in mutual team teaching sessions with their teacher. The simple act of telling a story became much more than entertainment. It became connection, healing, and a bridge to the world beyond their immediate reality to help them improve their language skills, and to give them a platform to speak about their lives in a language that connects them to people everywhere. I loved it, every week, seeing their smiling faces on the screen and building long lasting friendships with their teachers. I even went to Gaza in 2023 and met some of the kids I’d only seen on Zoom. It was a beautiful experience and something I will never forget. As hostilities escalated, I lost contact with everyone. I thought about where the kids were and what had happened to them. As I watched schools being bombed, universities flattened, and people killed in their thousands, I thought about where the kids I’d met were and what was happening to them. I kept in contact with many of the teachers I knew and heard daily news of displacement, destruction, hunger and bombing. Recently, I’ve started to link up again with children in Gaza, and it feels wonderful to be back helping them learn after being denied an education for over two years. Connecting with children in Palestine is more than just words. When a child in Palestine confidently tells their story to someone on the other side of the world, bridges are built, empathy grows, and the world gains a fuller picture of childhood in contexts far from peace and privilege. My work with these children is rooted in the belief that education and voice are inseparable. Through storytelling and English language learning, I witness children not just learning new vocabulary, but reclaiming their narratives, believing in their potential, and finding human connection in a world they perceive has abandoned them. And more than anything, this work reminds us all that children — everywhere — deserve to learn, to speak, and to be heard. Links to HUP information, books and resources: The Hands Up Project BY SUSAN PIPER Susan Piper is currently an ESOL teacher in Oldham, Greater Manchester and has worked in education for over 30 years. She is also a volunteer for the Hands Up Project and is the International Solidarity Officer and President of her NEU district. She believes in quality education for all and aims to make her lessons creative and inclusive so that effective language learning can take place.