By: Modou Touray
Students at the Gambia College – Brikama campus have expressed health concerns over the poor condition of their facility which they say expose them to a range of health risks.
Many dormitory residents, who requested anonymity, called on authorities and the public to help them fix the said sanitary problem.
“The condition of the toilets is deplorable. The college administration needs to replace the facility. We have nine rooms in this dormitory block and each room is sometimes up to three students. There are three toilets here and only one bathroom for more than 20 students,” a male student said.
Many students come from the provinces and only rely on the university for accommodation.
“I came from the province to stay here for the duration of my course. I have no relatives in Brikama to lodge in town, therefore I have no choice but to stay here,” another student told this reporter.
Fatou Njie, a student, noted that many students have passed through such conditions at the dormitory and the situation seems to be the same.
President of the general student council of the Gambia College – Brikama Campus, Fatou M Yaffa, confirmed that water supply at the dormitory is insufficient and appealed for support to fix that.
“For 40 years now, the dormitory hasn’t undergone any major refurbishment. Our student council normally intervenes to help to clear the filled toilets. Also, we help fix the bulbs when they fuse. We are looking for immediate assistance from the public. The mattresses are getting old too and they need to be replaced,” the student president appealed.
In his reaction, the principal of the Gambia College, Mr Abubacarr Jallow said:
“The management of the dormitory is in the hands of the students’ leadership. They are the ones collecting the rental fees. I wanted to close the dormitory because we have issues maintaining it but the students made an appeal and I decided to leave it. Only 200 students are staying there currently.”
The Gambia College is a public tertiary institution with campuses in Banjul and Brikama.
