About Bintang Bolong Nursery School, The Gambia
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History of Bintang Bolong Nursery SchoolBintang Bolong School is in Tallinding Medina, a very poor district of Serrekunda, the biggest and busiest town of The Gambia. The School was named after the village where the headmaster - Mr Alagie Lama Jammeh - grew up. In 1996 there were no facilities for the education of small children in the village, so Mr Jammeh and a Committee, consisting of members of the local community, established the present school.
| The school is managed by the School Committee, and is overseen by the Gambian equivalent of our Local Education Authority. When we visit, we try to ensure that we attend School Committee meetings, although this is not always possible, due to various commitments. When Pat Puddephatt and Janet Jacobs visited the school in February 2003, they were appalled by the conditions and lack of basic facilities and learning materials. Read their report below. |
Report on Conditions at the School in 2003The school is situated within a compound shared by several families. The pupils are taught in two makeshift classrooms; basically a tin roof supported by wooden poles and walls that look as if they are about to collapse at any time. The children share one pit toilet with the families living in the compound. Water has to be fetched from a standpipe quite a distance away. There is no electricity. Resources at Bintang Bolong school are very limited and teaching aids are virtually non-existent. |  Angie and Pat with Headmaster and Teachers of Bintang Bolong School |
 Inside the compound. School on left, with entrance to one classroom |  Children peeping into another classroom, where the older children are being taught |
| The children sit cramped on wooden benches without back rests and have to place their exercise books on their laps. | |
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Despite these limitations, their enthusiasm for learning is quite overwhelming. The commitment given by the teachers is self-evident. |  |
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Everywhere you look there are happy, smiling faces - pupils looking smart and proud in their uniforms and carrying well-thumbed exercise books with pride.
|  Eagerly waiting for school to begin |
 BBNS Girls' Rounders Team
|  BBNS Boys' Football Team
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The Gambia
School is not compulsory in The Gambia, but parents want their children to be educated and the children are keen to learn. Education has to be paid for, and often parents with very few possessions may well have to sell a goat to purchase school uniform and books. We frequently heard about parents who would go without food themselves, in order to enable their children to go to school. It seems difficult to believe that we are living in the 21st century.
