The World Food Progamme (WFP) recently handed over IT equipment to the department of state for Basic and Secondary Education (DoSBSE) at a ceremony held at the WFP main warehouse in Kanifing.

The equipment is valued at D155, 000 (one hundred and fifty five thousand dalasis) includes 3 sets of computers and accessories, 2 laser jet printers 3 UPS and one photocopying machine, accessories, among others.

The food aid arm of the United Nation [WFP] has been operating in The Gambia since 1970. It has been providing assistance in the area of education, food security and in disaster cases both natural and artificial.

In the area of education, the school feeding programme, aimed at enhancing the resource base of the country, the WFP has been providing school meals to children attending nursery and primary schools to help relief short term hunger thereby increasing their concentration in class. 

The programme is being implemented by the department of state for Basic and Secondary Education through the School of Agriculture and Food Management Unit (SAFM) which is tasked with the responsibility of the day to day management of the project.

In receiving the materials on behalf of the secretary of state for Basic and Secondary Education Fatou Lamin Faye, Dr Pap Sey, the deputy permanent secretary at DoSBSE, said the donation of the IT equipment to the School Agriculture and Food Management unit (SAFMU) at the department of state for Education will no doubt reinforce the unit's capacity for effective management of the school feeding project.

"This will subsequently enhance the relationship in the education policy's goals of access, retention and quality that we envisage in our schools," he noted.

According to Dr Sey,  the department of state for Basic and Secondary Education in its quest for quality education is not only concerned with the provision competent personnel, but also creating and mediating a conducive working environment, which includes the provision of adequate furniture and equipment. 

He further said that WFP's intervention in making these materials available will go a long way in completing The Gambia government's efforts to build the capacity of the department of state for Basic and Secondary Education.

In handing over the equipment, Malcolm Robert Duthie, the WFP representative in The Gambia said the WFP have provided support to nursery and primary schools across the country through the school feeding programme which covers over 500 (five hundred) schools and that over 120,000 (one hundred and twenty thousand) children are benefiting.

He revealed that these children are fed everyday to help relief short term hunger, thereby increasing their concentration in class.
The WFP rep also spoke of the significance of the project, pointing out that poor families some of whom have two to three children attending school will help remedy or relief the family's expenditure in their feeding.

The WFP rep finally underscored that the donated items will help reinforce the education department's capacity for effective implementation of the programme.