November 14, 2002
Posted to the web November 14, 2002

Momodou Bah & Chief Manneh
Banjul

Several teachers at Gambia Senior Secondary School have resigned their posts
over what they termed "poor conditions of service," sources say.

According to sources, more than ten teachers, mostly long serving teachers,
have tendered their resignation letters to the school authorities.

One of the resigned teachers, Kuniwa Musa, told the Daily Observer that it
was not his wish to leave the school but that he had a better offer from
another school. He refused to disclose the name of the school saying only "
the school offers better conditions of services." Students have received the
news of the mass resignations with mixed feelings. Some of them who spoke to
our reporters expressed disappointment with the school administration for
not "having great concern for them." A Grade 12 Science student said their
teachers' resignation started during the summer holidays.

He said most of the teachers who resigned were long serving teachers and
were doing a marvellous job in the school.

"We are really missing a lot and it will be difficult to get such high
calibre of teachers," he said.

He said they were experiencing some difficulties with their normal school
work because sometimes in a day, they would miss up to two periods without a
teacher.

A Grade Eleven student also said the school administration did not want the
general public to know the students plight particularly those offering the
Sciences. She said those taking Science subjects for the external exams
would not perform well due to the lack of teachers. "At the end of the day,
they will blame us while the authorities know the problems but refused to
address them. She said for three weeks at the beginning of the academic
year, they had no Biology and Health Science teachers.

She appealed to the concerned authorities especially the Department of State
for Education (DoSE) to come to their aid before it was too late. She said
if their problems were not solved, they would take their case to the
president "because he cares for students' welfare." When contacted, the
principal of the school, Willie Carr, told our reporter that most of the
teachers who resigned from the school did so in pursuit of greener pastures.


From Allafrica.com web site






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