Abstract
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African population continues to increase each year with millions of girl children living in oppressive conditions, illiteracy, poverty, disease and ignorance. For The Gambia to succeed in her vision to revolutionize her economy and raise the standard of living by the year 2020, there is urgent need to educate the citizens—boys and girls. Since 1996, the government has promoted girl child enrollment in the public schools, but gender gap, retention issues and teacher problems still exist in the system. This Executive Position Paper (EPP) examines the place of girl child education in the realization of The Gambia's national vision and on the need for quality training of teachers. The following research goals guided the planning and implementation of the study: (1) To identify girl child education and related teacher training issues. (2) To identify and analyze citizens' perception of The Gambian government's efforts to reduce the low enrollment rate of schoolage girls. (3) To identify the factors that contributes to the dropout rate of Gambian girls from schools. (4) To understand the influence of Islamic education on the girl child in The Gambia. (5) To understand the role of Vision 2020 in improving girl child education. The study utilized qualitative methods—convenience sampling techniques, with focus groups, field notes, and structured interview instruments to collect data from 48 Gambian participants and stakeholders in education. For the data analysis, the researcher employed the coding of responses to identify significant patterns and themes based on the responses to the structured interview questions and focus group discussions. Findings include: the citizens' concern for continuity in girl child enrollment and retention nationwide; less enrollment and retention in rural areas; praise of government efforts to improve girl child education; the absence of teacher incentives, training and professional development; scarcity of indigenous female teachers; and curriculum issues and influence of Madrassa/Islamic education, among others. Policy suggestions, among others, for improving the plan and strategies of realizing the national Vision 2020 goals include: providing free education at secondary school level; making school curriculum girl friendly; providing resources and materials for the teaching learning process; providing effective teacher training and professional development programs; providing working incentives for teachers—competitive salaries, special allowance for teachers who work in rural areas; and initiating Teacher of the Year awards at every level of government—local, state, and national.
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