Bakoteh Nursery School

 

The school was originally established by our sister charity in The Gambia, GTS, but until its closure was totally funded by GETS. The building was derelict when the charity first became involved.  As the community owned the site and the existing building, an agreement was drawn up that the charity would provide the funding for the materials to rebuild the school and the community would provide the labour.

A school committee was established to supervise the building, decorating and furnishing of the school and once completed, took on the task of appointing teachers.  Initially the charity had little say in whom the community chose as the teachers. After difficult times we insisted on more control of the appointments and under the head Nfamara Jarju, the school greatly improved. It was a joint achievement but the standard of teaching and educational achievement of the pupils was not remotely comparable to the equivalent of schools in the UK. A situation which is very common all over The Gambia but GETS is determined to change this at our Sunrise Centre in Bakoteh.

As the Nursery School at Bakoteh did not have a proper playing area for the children, they played in the road at the front of the building, we had to find new premises. GETS proposed to establish a school that will educate children from nursery to the end of Lower Basic level and abandon nursery education in the unsuitable building at Bakoteh. This school closed at the end of 2010 and combined with the nursery school in the nearby community centre. In January 2011 the community centre came under the control of GETS and was renamed Sunrise Centre.

To find out more about our work at Sunrise, click here.