As part of its commitment to continue the fulfilment of its social responsibility and helping young minds to achieve excellence as dictated by the organisation's mission statement, the Francis Degaulle Njie Foundation last Saturday, organised a fund raising dinner at Jerma Beach Hotel in commemoration of the organisation's third year anniversary.

The fund raising was also geared towards raising funds for the organisation's scholarship program. The occasion which was graced by stakeholders and a section of the community was punctuated by a panel discussion on the theme: 'The importance of descipline in the development of young minds'. Members of the panel included Dr Omar Jah Jr, the acting vice chancellor of the University of The Gambia, Georgie L. Thomas, a retired educationist; Adel Sock, a retired head mistress; Amie Bensouda, a legal practioner and Lamin Sonko, the president of the University of the Gambia Computer Science Club.

Delivering her welcome remarks, Vivat Thomas Njie, chairperson of the board of trustees of the foundation, spoke at length about the commitment of the association in assisting young people to achieving their dreams. She unveiled that her organisation is currently focusing on two key aspects notably education and health. She spoke of the tremendous contributions the foundation has made in these key sectors, noting that they have been enhancing education by supplying books to schools and also supporting needy students in terms of scholarships. She added that they are also collaborating with Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital to train nurse specialists on surgical cancer.

The panellist then recommended that discipline is different from punishment and as such, punishing a child might not necessary lead to discipline. They also spoke at length about the need for parent-child relationship in the process of making a child disciplined. The ten panellists noted that discipline is an art and therefore, it is the combination of society, family and the school to work together to produce the art.

The occasion was also marked by a presentation of trophies to St Augustine's Senior Secondary School and awarding of scholarships to four deserving students from the Gambia Senior Secondary School; namely Babucarr Drammeh, Lamin Camara, Modou Lamin Saho and Amadou Sarr. The scholarship package contains the education needs of the students from grade ten to twelve.