Learning from Home During Covid19 in The Gambia

Learning from Home During Covid19 in The Gambia

Marie Antoinette Corr - General Secretary, Gambia Teachers Union, September 2020

On the 17th of March 2020, His Excellency the President of the Republic of the Gambia addressed the nation on the status of the Corona Virus, subsequently, he declared all schools and educational institutions closed as a measure to protect children, teachers and education support personnel to control the spread of the virus. This decision though necessary was unexpected and impromptu under the circumstances the ministry was confronted with an unprecedented situation.

At the Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) level alone 674,300 students from Early Childhood Education to Senior Secondary Schools were affected due to the pandemic.  

This made it impossible for schools to achieve 100 percent school contact hours but it was believed that ‘bringing lessons at home’ by MoBSE through various mediums would minimise the school contact hours lost due to the pandemic.

The Challenge of Learning from Home 

The Gambia is classified as one of the least developed countries and is a low-income country. The Gambia Minimum wage is 50 dalasi per day ($1.25). The Gambia’s poverty rate remains at 48.6%. In the rural areas, poverty is even more widespread and almost accounts for about 70% of the total poor in the Country.

On Wednesday, 26th April 2019 an article was published in the Point Newspaper and it stated thus: 

“In today’s Gambia the average salary is d3000 ($60) whilst a bag of rice costs an exorbitant price between D1100 and D1, 550. Internet tariffs are sky rocketing, Megabytes and normal calls D3000 Monthly”.

Therefore, it goes without saying that most of the teachers and parents cannot afford Laptops, Computers, and Smartphones with much more megabytes or have access to internet and I can comfortably say that they might not even have heard of Google much more think of using it. In addition to all that the unreliable provision of electricity is a major obstacle.

Education response strategy to COVID 19


The Gambia Ministry of Basic and secondary education-initiated measures in the form of TV and Radio programmes to make up for learning gaps due to school closures. But complaints and concerns came from all quarters even the National Assembly that the MoBSE online learning disadvantaged many students especially those in the remote parts of the country as access to network coverage for both television and radios and other social media is questionable coupled with poor networking services compare to the urban areas.


In one of our meetings a member of the committee from the furthest region mentioned that he bought a ‘solar radio’ and that is what his children and other students in the community are using to follow the online lessons, he told us ‘they always invade my house to listen.’ After the meeting, we discussed and agreed that it would be a good idea to do something like this. First, we informed the Ministry but unfortunately, they could not provide support because they had other issues to deal with like paying the radio stations for the coverage amongst a host of other things.


I decided to contact few of our partners for support and the Steve Sinnott Foundation responded positively.


Finding the ideal solution


According to UNICEF recent study conducted in the country, out of 10,000 students 2,470 students across the six educational regions did not have access to radio or television in order for them to get their lessons through MoBSE ongoing online learning due to the COVID 19 pandemic.


The radio programmes offer an alternative platform and have the potential to reach children in areas that remain inaccessible. With many hundreds of schools closed, and children exposed to numerous risks the radio programmes will keep children in a positive learning routine.


The programme has a high recall value among students and has been effective in eliciting participation and keeping the students engaged.


Through the Sinnott Foundation we provided 380 Radio sets for students in three regions in rural Gambia. If you calculate that on average radio sets will be shared by several families and deliver lessons to approximately 10 children and adults at a time then we will have reached on average 3,800 students through this medium to allow them to continue learning safely.


GTU have also broadcasted campaigns to inform parents and adults about the dangers facing young girls at this time of early child marriage, pregnancy and sexual abuse, so everyone should be vigilant and protect our girls and report any cases to the police.


On top of this we have also delivered books and skipping ropes and footballs so that children can keep active and healthy and enjoy playing.


Looking Ahead



The Steve Sinnott Foundation have secured more funding for solar radios, thanks to The Canning Trust and The Souter Charitable Trust, who are now rolling that project out to more communities that we work with, in Sierra Leone, Haiti and Nepal.

We are also working with the University of Brunel to research potential ways to connect learners worldwide and create learning platforms that can be delivered both online and offline as needed. As well as creating digital learning resources for these.

The Steve Sinnott Foundation • October 2, 2020

36 Bicycles. Countless Futures in The Gambia.

By Ann Beatty • May 20, 2026
How a simple act of practical solidarity is transforming the journey to school in The Gambia’s Central River Region North Policies have been written. Schools have been built. Yet for many children in The Gambia’s Central River Region North, access to education is still measured in kilometres, not opportunity. 

Education for Hope in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Times

By Laura Griffin • May 13, 2026
‘In a single hour vast tracts of shaded woodland became a jumble of torn trees and upturned soil, exposed to the glare of the summer sun. Such land-clearing events are rare, but forests exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. I’m told that the Chinese character for ‘catastrophe’ is the same as that which represents the word ‘opportunity’. And, the blowdown, while catastrophic, presented opportunities for many species.’ (Wall Kimmerer, 2003: 89). In the context of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (Stein, 2021) what kinds of education for hope might support children’s and young people’s critical engagement in local and global issues? In the spirit of exploring the possibilities of hope further, this short article focuses on the area of global citizenship and sustainabilityrelated education. It will briefly open by sharing commonalities across pedagogical approaches that take up the concept and act of hope more critically, and close by offering reflective questions for educators, with suggestions for further reading. Perhaps it is a kind of hope that is grounded in the present, in future reimagining(s), in ethical solidarity, and an acknowledgement of our deep entanglement with the living metabolism of planet earth 1 our singular home (UNESCO, 2021); a hope that engages with complex root causes and lived realities of multiple overlapping crises in critically reflexive and contextually relevant ways. As McCloskey notes, ‘Hope can fire our collective imagination and critical consciousness as a mainspring to activism and intervention in the world.’ (2025: 3). Commonalities across critical pedagogical approaches to hope include: Acknowledging the context of a ‘seamless single story of progress, development and human evolution’ (Andreotti, V.D.O., 2021b Relating to social and ecological justice and the wellbeing of people and planet Using participatory, action-orientated and inquiry-based learning processes Exploring diverse worldviews and perspectives Practising grounding in the present with opening up possibilities for change (relational, embodied, response-able 2 ) Experiencing ‘struggle’ in different forms (dialogical, selfreflexive, open-ended) Engaging individual and collective agency, action and activism Looking for lifelong and life-wide learning and unlearning. 1 See ‘Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness’, in Machado de Oliveira Andreotti. 2021a 2 See ‘Crossing Borders’ in 2 Depth Education “Depth Education and the Possibility of GCE Otherwise, 2021b. Source: Andreotti, V. 2021a & 2021b., Atif, A. (2025)., Bourn, D. 2021., Bryan. A. and Mochizuki,Y., 2024., Giroux, H.A. 2025., Meade, E. 2025. Whilst engaging in the concept and act of hope more critically reflect upon: What kinds of education for hope might you explore further and why? How might you provide generative spaces for engaging in diverse worldviews and perspectives? In what ways can you facilitate individual and collective agency? How might you support learners’ practice grounding in the present in order to relate differently? In what ways can you support learners in navigating complex root causes and lived realities of local and global issues? As Chief Ninawa Hini Kui affirms, ‘The future depends much less on the images we project ahead than on our capacity to repair relations and build relationships differently in the present.’ (Andreotti et al, 2023: 73. An invitation for further reading: Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future . d’Abreu, C., Belgeonne, C., Bourn, D. and Hatley, J. (2025) ‘Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future’. DERC Research Paper 24. London: UCL Institute of Education. Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism. Machado de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2021a) ‘Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism’ , London: Penguin Random House. Development Education and Hope . McCloskey, S. (2025). (ed) ‘Development Education and Hope’. ‘Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review’ , Vol. 41, Autumn. Centre for Global Education, Belfast. Link to and download the full reference list here

I heard it said today by a friend that “You learn a language best when you use it to speak and write about things that are important to you. ”

By Susan Piper • May 6, 2026
This summed up to me about why I volunteer for the Hands Up Project. HUP is a charity trust which, through its network of volunteers, connects children around the world with young people in Palestine. By means of online interaction, drama and storytelling activities, it enables the use of creativity and selfexpression to promote mutual understanding, personal growth, and the development of English language skills. I joined HUP in 2020 during COVID. After going to Palestine in 2017, I wanted to get more involved in working with Palestinian children in schools. HUP gave me the opportunity to link up with schools in the West Bank and Gaza. Every week I’d tell them stories from all over the world, then we’d discuss it, play games and I’d get them to retell it. Sometimes we would work from their coursebook English for Palestine’ in mutual team teaching sessions with their teacher. The simple act of telling a story became much more than entertainment. It became connection, healing, and a bridge to the world beyond their immediate reality to help them improve their language skills, and to give them a platform to speak about their lives in a language that connects them to people everywhere. I loved it, every week, seeing their smiling faces on the screen and building long lasting friendships with their teachers. I even went to Gaza in 2023 and met some of the kids I’d only seen on Zoom. It was a beautiful experience and something I will never forget. As hostilities escalated, I lost contact with everyone. I thought about where the kids were and what had happened to them. As I watched schools being bombed, universities flattened, and people killed in their thousands, I thought about where the kids I’d met were and what was happening to them. I kept in contact with many of the teachers I knew and heard daily news of displacement, destruction, hunger and bombing. Recently, I’ve started to link up again with children in Gaza, and it feels wonderful to be back helping them learn after being denied an education for over two years. Connecting with children in Palestine is more than just words. When a child in Palestine confidently tells their story to someone on the other side of the world, bridges are built, empathy grows, and the world gains a fuller picture of childhood in contexts far from peace and privilege. My work with these children is rooted in the belief that education and voice are inseparable. Through storytelling and English language learning, I witness children not just learning new vocabulary, but reclaiming their narratives, believing in their potential, and finding human connection in a world they perceive has abandoned them. And more than anything, this work reminds us all that children — everywhere — deserve to learn, to speak, and to be heard. Links to HUP information, books and resources: The Hands Up Project BY SUSAN PIPER Susan Piper is currently an ESOL teacher in Oldham, Greater Manchester and has worked in education for over 30 years. She is also a volunteer for the Hands Up Project and is the International Solidarity Officer and President of her NEU district. She believes in quality education for all and aims to make her lessons creative and inclusive so that effective language learning can take place.