Challenges to Primary School Enrolment in the Gambia

This study examines the challenges to primary school enrolment in the Gambia. The study employs a convenience research sampling method where 277 respondents from the school communities participated. The study finds that demand factors are more important than supply factors in explaining primary school enrolment in the Gambia. The main factors identified by the study include; home chores and child labour (symptoms of poverty), religious beliefs, and community involvement. Accordingly, to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG-2) objective, a collective approach that is not only comprehensive and promotes stakeholder involvement in both the policy formulation and implementation is required.Key Words: The Gambia; Primary School; Education in Africa.1. IntroductionAll over the world, it is acknowledged that education is vital to economic, social, and political development (Durosaro, 2007; Alaba, 2010). African governments have continuously emphasized the role of education for their citizenry as a means to social and economic progress (Keriga and Bujra, 2009). Mbelle and Katabaro (2003) assert that education is an important component of human capital, and explains the varying levels of national economic growth. The authors note that improvement in the quality of human capital enhances productivity and absorptive capacity hence improving overall output levels. Even more important, investing in human capital improves social mobility by promoting equality of opportunity. It is not surprising therefore that nations of the world devote a sizeable portion of their Gross National Income to develop the education sector.Investment in education is generally done at three levels: primary, secondary and tertiary or higher. Primary education equips a student with basic skills and is defended from both human rights and publicgood perspectives. Secondary and higher education mainly aim at meeting global challenges in science and technology as well as organization of production processes and markets (Mbelle and Katabaro, 2003). This study focuses on primary education, which is the foundational level of the educational system because it is aimed at developing basic literacy, numeracy, and communication skills and because primary education directly benefits the rural poor (Syngellakis and Arudo, 2006).In light of the benefits of primary education, Handa (1999) has argued that few policies, if any, are as universally accepted as that of raising primary school enrolment in poor countries. Access to education, however, is still a problem for many developing countries. The problem is even severe in rural communities where high adult illiteracy contributes to high poverty levels. In realization of the important role which education plays as an agent of national development, there has been agitation for more functional and qualitative education all over the world. This agitation and concern for quality education is reflected in the inauguration of Education for All (EFA) in Jomtien (Thailand) in 1990 and Dakar in 2000, and as currently expressed in MDG-2 (Shibeshi, 2005; Alaba, 2010).To meet the MDG-2's 2015 target, government policies and development projects have aimed at increasing primary school enrolment by focusing on the supply side of schooling: for example, through abolishing school fees, investing in teaching, infrastructure and resources, and introducing mobile schools in remote areas (United Nations, 2010). Such programs are necessary but they are not sufficient to guarantee increases in school attendance (Handa, 1999; Galabawa, 2001; Mbelle and Katabaro, 2003; Keriga and Bujra, 2009).A United Nations' report in 2008 suggested that the net primary school enrolment ratio has only recently reached 71 per cent (even after a significant jump in enrolment that began in 2000) and that about 38 million children of primary school age in this region are still out of school. In a later study, a United Nations report (2010) indicated that primary school enrolment was only 76% in Sub Sahara Africa (SSA) while close to 100% in East Asia and Latin America. …