Mingdaw Upper Basic School (MUBS), recently held its 1st Speech and Prize giving ceremony for the outgoing Grade Nine (9) students, at the school ground in Farato Village, Western Region.

Presenting his annual report,Marican Mendy, principal of the school,  disclosed that the student enrolment stood at 1215, comprising 599 girls.  He noted that since he took over from the previous administration some years back, a lot of improvements had been registered both in the students' academic performance and extra curricular activities.
 
According to him, the school had registered 360 candidates in the 2006-2007 GABECE examination, out of which 149 students were able to cross the national cut-off mark with scores ranging from aggregate 8, 9 and 11 upwards. He further went on to highlight some of the challenges facing the school, such as lack of enough furniture, science laboratory and classroom blocks, among others.

Mr Mendy seized the opportunity to thank the Taiwanese Embassy in The Gambia for their invaluable support and urged them to continue the goodwill gesture.  He then hailed the President's Empowerment for Girls Education Programme (PEGEP) for their generosity towards sponsoring students from the school.

For her part, Isatou Ndow, Head of School of Education at The Gambia college, who was also  the guest speaker of the occasion, dilated on the theme "Education as a tool for national development". Ms Ndow congratulated the outgoing students for their hard work and dedication. She described education as a gradual process of acquiring knowledge and skills, adding that it can also be referred to as a preparation for better life.  

According to her, the importance of education cannot be over emphasised, as education is the foundation for freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.  For a nation to prosper and develop,  its citizens must be educated she said.   Madam Ndow, challenged the outgoing students to take their education seriously, as their is no need for them to rush out to Europe or America.  

She finally thanked the schools administration and PTA to continue the good work and urged parents to encourage their children to pursue education especially the girl child.  Other speakers included Kemo Fatty,school vice principal, Mariama Drammeh, outgoing headgirl.  The vote of thanks was delivered by the headboy Abdourahim Jallow.