Evaluation of our projects – a SEN school in The Gambia
Our CEO Ann Beatty is currently visiting our partners and the projects we support in West Africa to assess the impact the Foundations work is having on the provision of accessible education.
The first stop on this tour is The Gambia where Ann had the privilege of visiting the Methodist Special Educational Needs (SEN) School in Banjul. The school has 400+ students who attend the school.
Ann met the headteacher, Lucy, and several of the teachers who had recently attended the three day SEN and gender-based violence training hosted by the Gambia Teachers Union (GTU), which was supported by the Foundation. Ann met with the teachers who shared how beneficial the training was for them and how they have implemented some of the learning in practice at school.
Attendance at the school is excellent overall but they have recently had problems with one of the vehicles that collect the students each day. We are looking into how we may be able to support with this, as if the students do not have transport to attend school, then they just stay at home.
We met teacher Ousman who is deaf and dumb and develops all the learning resources for the school as well as teaching sign language.
The goal is to ensure that students are able to attend mainstream school but depending on the learning needs this is not always possible. Ann told us that in addition to the fantastic programme of education the teachers provided she could really feel the love and the care that the teachers felt for their students. It was inspiring to meet teachers who have such passion and care for their students despite the complex needs of the children in their care and the challenging environment.
The following day Ann and the GTU Gender Officer, Janet, spent the day with 20 SSF Young Ambassadors at St Joseph’s School. Headteacher Ms Koker and Ms Silver joined the group for Tai Chi and the ‘Changemakers Speak Out: The School I want to Learn in’ workshop. We also spent time learning about the campaign work that the ambassadors have been involved in and thinking about how they can inspire other young people to become involved to campaign for #EduactionforAll.
It was a lovely surprise to meet up with Therese and Fatmatta SSF Young Ambassadors who supported the Send My Friend to School Campaign in 2017. They shared their experience of coming to the U.K. and campaigning for EducationforAll. We also saw some of the creative crafts that the students have been working on together, and shared friendship bracelets as a sign of sisterly solidarity campaigning for #EducationforAll.
These inspiring young women are making a difference in their communities and we are proud to support them!
