Garba Jahumpa Upper Basic School in collaboration with Humanity First Banjul branch, last Friday held their first speech and prize giving ceremony at the school ground in Banjul.

In his welcoming remarks,Fouis K. Mendy, the principal of the school said that graduation ceremonies are moments of the academic calender, when institutions turn back to take stock of their activities over a period of time, map the way forwards the equally, reward those who have undoubtedly contributed immensely toward the success of various aspect of the school including achievement and set back as well as prosposals.
 
He gave a brief background of the school saying "the school started operations in 1995 and temporally located at Campama Lower Basic operating mainly in the afternoon. In 1998, the construction of this apartment site was completed and inaugurated" he said.

According to him, the establishment and operation of the school by BCC as public school was the result of the government blue print for individual NGOs, parastatals and municipalities, to complement government effort in providing quality, accessible, and affordable education for Gambian children. "I have already outline instructional programmes and would now happily report that in the academic year 2004, our best aggregate is 27, in 2005, it  progressed to aggregate 22 and in 2006, aggregate 19 and 2007 we progress to aggregate 13. This indicates that we may even register better results this 2008 academic year" he stated.

For his part, Baboucarr Bouy, permanent secretary, Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education expressed delight at the ceremony. He used the opportunity to discuss issues that continue to confront the education system and highlighted the effective role of parents in the education of their children.

He then stated that the Department of State for Education is currently embarking on series of programmes and activities aimed at improving the quality of teaching and learning  in schools and trying to nurture discipline in the pupils.