By Olimatou Coker
Maahad Senior Secondary School has over the weekend held its 13th graduation ceremony for 522 students at its premises in Brikama Jamisa.
The theme of the ceremony focuses on “the effects of climate change on socio-economic development of The Gambia”.
The 522 students that graduated over the weekend completed grade 12 WASSCE.
Lamin Bojang, the school principal, said the celebration is an important recognition of significant achievements by the school and students.
“The school currently have a total of 2,092 students, out of which 706 are boys. 706 are in grade 10, 858 in grade 11, constituting 1307.”
He the number of students continues to increase significantly due to the confidence parents and the community at large have in the school.
“This year’s graduation marks the 13th speech and prize giving ceremony. This is an event where the whole school community including all relevant stakeholders such as teachers, students, and families of prize winners, can come together to celebrate the achievements of our students and the school at large during the academic year under review”.
Principal Bojang highlighted that the school boasts of a number of achievements in the midst of struggles. Some of these include: Introduction and maintenance of pure science with well-equipped facilities for teaching and learning, improvement of academic standards and academic excellence – the school is now a household name and as such the first choice of many people within the region and even beyond, retention of a good number of competent teaching staff – producing the best results in WASSCE and initiation of a succession planning scheme formed purposely for the recruitment, maintenance and retention of the some of the highest performing students for possible replacement when they retire.
He also went on to outline some of the challenges the school is facing at the IT department and other areas. “The IT Department was set up about ten years ago with the sole aim of providing basic computing skills to every student. In line with the vision of the school, the ministry has introduced ICT as an examinable subject in the school curriculum. In fact, some schools have registered candidates for it in the just concluded WASSCE exercise.
However, the school has experienced serious constraints recently with regard the number of functional computers. Most of the facilities installed over 10 years ago are now outdated and as such are not fit for purpose. We were not able to register candidates under ICT for WASSCE. The management will therefore be ready to partner with relevant stakeholders to ensure the center is fitted with latest or modern computer facilities.
Kemo Kijera, the Guest Speaker who is a program officer at NEA, gave a testimony on how Maahad molded him to be a better version of himself.
He congratulated the graduates on this incredible achievement.
He also challenged them to each grow a tree to contribute and fight against environmental shock.
“Promoting sustainable agriculture and land use practices, enhancing community resilience through education, infrastructure of development. By understanding and tackling these causes, we can better mitigate and adapt impacts of climate change, securing a sustainable future. Together we can turn the challenges of climate change into opportunities, innovation and positive change.”
Alh. Kakai Sanyang, the board chairman of the school, also spoke at the event.
