A breakdown of the 2015 budget reveals for the second year running of the highest budgetary allocation to the education sector of over D2.5 billion. This represents 29.56 percent of the total national budget. It underlines the government’s belief that education is the most critical sector of the nation’s development.
Arguably, the human capital development of a country lies in education and it is therefore justified to give it the requisite budgetary attention. The 2015 national budget allocation reflects the strong desire of government to put the education sector on a path to greater prosperity. However, much remains to be done in terms of attainment of greater heights in the sector through reforms. These reforms should highlight innovative policies, programmes, and projects capable of producing change for the better. Large-scale reproduction of such policies, programmes, and projects could initiate the desired change in specific sectors across the country.
The education sector is experiencing exponential growth in the country. We must ensure that in this growth, high premium is put on quality and relevance and not just accessibility. Despite the country’s lack of natural resources, exploring ways of meeting the needs of the education sector must remain a priority. It is fair to also state that the current government has found logic in being more aggressive in terms of monetary investment and policies and programmes.
The country has a narrow revenue base. Also, domestic borrowing portends a threat to the country’s future development and hence the need to urge government to keep to its promise of bringing down the net domestic borrowing to one percent of GDP as compared to ten percent last year. This will help government in providing services to the people of The Gambia effectively.
As long as the government continues to give the education, health and agriculture sectors the right budgetary allocation, our progress as a nation will continue. The Gambia should be proud of herself by raising hope in her youths who need to acquire more skills and knowledge through schools. This is because it has come a long way in this sector and it must continue to give her youths the right opportunities because our future depends on these youths. There has been a practical effort to revamp the entire services sector in order to make it more cross-cutting with the adequate infrastructure. This is very admirable.
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