On Saturday, the 8th of February 2020, the University of The Gambia held its 12th Convocation Ceremony at QCity, Bijilo, in which over eight hundred students graduated. The students come from all the ten schools of the university and in various disciplines.
As indicated in the number, this is the twelfth time the university is churning out graduates ready for the job market and ready to serve the country in their various fields. It is heartwarming to know that The Gambia now has its own homegrown graduates who bring their expertise to the table in order to serve the country.
These graduates mostly go straight into the job market and serve not only in the public sector but also in the private sector of the country and this bears beneficial fruits for the socio-economic well-being of the country.
It is for this reason that more organisations and companies need to take part in sponsoring students at not only the senior school level of education but also at the University of The Gambia and other higher learning institutions in the country. A country cannot develop without a very skilled and highly educated workforce to man all its institutions.
As a university is one such institution where these skills and talents are acquired, the need is there to invest in it so that as many young people as possible gain the knowledge required to move the country forward.
Because university education is expensive and the average Gambian is poor, not many citizens can afford to send their children to acquire university education. As a result, a large number of the students who go to the university are sponsored by the government.
It is clear that a government of a poor country like The Gambia cannot pay for all the students who want to acquire a university education. It is therefore necessary that a way is found to ensure that the private sector steps up to shoulder part of that responsibility for the good of the country.
