Education is liberation!

Regular readers of this Blog will know that I am here in The Gambia providing development support for Aid for Orphans and Disabled (AFOD). The vision for the organisation is to support more of their young people to be able to access educational opportunities and consequently improve their quality of life.

Earlier this week I visited some of the local schools where AFOD is sponsoring orphaned and disabled children to attend. This was a most enlightening experience.

One of the schools was Bundung Primary and in talking to the Principal I really had the shock of my life, when she informed us that there were more than 3000 children on the register. I am sure there are no schools of this size in the UK. I myself attended a primary school in Anglesey that was considered to be pretty big, with about 500 children on the books.

Here in the Gambia, many schools operate a split shift system, with half of the children attending the morning session from 8am to 1.45pm and the remainder coming to school from 2pm to 5.45pm. Can you imagine teachers in the UK tolerating a 15 minute lunch break!

Education here is very highly valued by both parents and children alike. At another Upper Secondary School, we were shown around classrooms during the morning break. Many of the young people were still in the classrooms still working, their enthusiasm and commitment to learn is brilliant.

It did make me laugh however when the Principal, Mr Ousman Ndow was challenging some of the boys about not having their shirts tucked into their trousers. My son, Huw, will back me up here I'm sure, as I would be willing to bet that at the same moment, very similar conversations were happening at his school in Wales.

I have written in a previous post that every child has to pay for the school fees, stationery, transport etc. When is a child is disabled or has no parents, they often have no opportunity to get a school place. However, for £20 you could provide a comprehensive support package for a child to go to school.

Why not think about this before you do your Christmas shopping this year and instead of giving an unwanted present for family and friends, why don't you sponsor a child to receive the freedom of education?