Chairman Badjie made these remarks recently at the regional education directorate, Region 6 in Basse, during the commemoration of the Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) by Education for all Campaign Network The Gambia (EFANet) in collaboration with partners.
In 2015, United Nations (UN) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) member states committed to provide free equitable primary and secondary education and to ensure that all children have access to quality early childhood education and affordable quality technical, vocational and higher education.
The government of The Gambia also committed to increase the number of qualified teachers to ensure that educators are empowered, adequately recruited, well trained, professionally qualified, motivated and supported within well-resourced, efficiently and effectively governed systems.
He therefore stated that national budgeting for education requires increasing the share of budgets for education; increasing the size of budget overall; increasing the sensitivity of budgets in order to respond to the most marginalised and; increasing the security of budgets, so governments are accountable to people.
He highlighted that the realisation of the human right to education requires multiple efforts from all sectors of society, adding that it is dependent on compliance with specific obligations of governments and the international community.
He further said that education financing must be motivated by the construction of education systems that promote and realise human rights as a way of life as the content of education, its government and administration, and the challenges of teaching and learning that are part of the enabling human right.
The theme for this year’s GAWE is ‘Education Financing’ with emphasis on Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) which is quality education.
The theme aims to mobilise ‘more and better public financing for education’ in which civil society organisations in different regions demand concrete actions to achieve the necessary goals to guarantee the funds that public education systems need.