The vice chancellor of the University of The Gambia (UTG) and the overseer of The Gambia College have said that the low salary earned by college lecturers has made it difficult to attract and retain faculty and staff over the years.Professor Muhammed MO Kah made this disclosure on Wednesday before Members of the Public Accounts and Public Enterprises Committees of the National Assembly while presenting the annual activity report and financial statement of the Gambia College.

While noting that the college has made great strides in the integration process with UTG and in the harmonization of the curricula of the institutions, the UTG VC said the problem [of low salary] has been a major stumbling block for both present and past administrations of the college, adding that the need to urgently upgrade the remuneration packages for the college cannot be overemphasised. He told the deputies that the senior administration is working closely with the Governing Council to advertise, recruit and urgently fill key positions important to the efficient operations of the college.

His words: “The chief finance officer position is being manned by a retiree; Registry staff- currently one staff member is performing the administrative functions of the Registry and needs to be assisted as the job is very demanding;the position of principal lecturer is vacant in all four schools; Staff with Masters degrees should be promoted. Lecturers are also required in the following areas: Nursing (2); Public Health (3); School of Education (7); {EPS (2), SES (2), Arts and Craft and English (2), Agriculture (2)}; Computer Labs: Assistants (2).” Professor Kah further said that only one computer assistant is running the entire unit of the college, suggesting that at least two account clerks should be appointed to help in the Finance Unit of the College, which is under-staffed.

He added: “We continue to identify performing staff in collaboration with heads of School, and forward their recommendations to the UTG to enable them benefit from the vice chancellor’s tuition wavier initiative providing undergraduate and post-graduate degree opportunities to staff and faculty from MDI, GTTI and Gambia College. Many Gambia College Faculty and staff are enrolled at the UTG pursuing an undergraduate or postgraduate degree at no cost to them. The two Gambia College faculty/staff enrolled in the joint UTG/ UNESCO postgraduate degree are provided with a 3G-enabled netbook/laptop to facilitate their learning.” 

Professor Kah further disclosed that one of the staff teaching mathematics was offered a scholarship to pursue a postgraduate course at African Institute for Mathematics Sciences (AIMS-Senegal) through the facilitation of the Vice Chancellor and the Overseer of the Gambia College. These ongoing efforts, according to him, would gradually usher in more quality faculty at the College and enhance retention of qualified staff, which would positively continue to be challenged by unattractive remuneration packages to attract the best amongst people to choose teaching as a career.He then made it clear that there is need for bold interventions to ensure competitive remuneration and incentives for the youth to aspire and choose teaching as a career path and also enable the College to attract high quality faculty and staff.

He noted that the School of Agriculture has for the first time registered a large number of students both at the certificate and diploma levels. “However, the number of the College staff serving the school is very small and four UTG staff are currently engaged to teach courses there together with part-time lecturers and other College lecturers. The school currently has no head of school or senior lecturers and is being overseen by the acting registrar,” he stated.

The VC revealed that the senior management staff have doubled their efforts this academic year with plans to alleviate these continuing problems. He explains: “The plans include putting in place locks for each classroom as well as adequate supervision for each block and they hope this would begin to improve the situation. The college urgently needs to be fenced to solve some of the security concerns regarding theft of college properties such as chairs. Modern classrooms need to be built and adequate furniture provided to cater for the increased enrollment and the presence of university students in the Gambia College Campus. The campus needs to be beautified and more recreational facilities built to enhance student’s life. Furniture shortage has been a key constraint for the college and this has been mainly due to the expansion in enrollment and programmes both at the College and the university."

Professor Kah maintained that the Gambia College is now stronger and better than ever before and assured that they will continue to work harder to ensure excellence. “We will continue to double our efforts to fill vacant positions in the teaching and administrative cadre needed for the efficient running of the college. We will also continue to explore with our Governing Council mechanisms to put in place incentives to facilitate attraction and retention of faculty and staff to strengthen the college, but the college and the Governing Council cannot do it alone and therefore, need the support and commitment of all stakeholders.” he concluded.