UNICEF has assured the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education of its continued support as the ministry moves ahead with plans to safely reopen schools after more than six months of physical closure for most classes.
This commitment was made during a meeting between Gordon Jonathan Lewis, UNICEF Representative in The Gambia, and the Honourable Claudiana Cole, Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, on Wednesday, 07 October, a day after the Minister announced plans to begin safe schools reopening, UNICEF said in a statement on Monday.
“Rest assured that as The Gambia prepares to safely reopen schools, UNICEF and the rest of the United Nations system in the country, will provide strong support to ensure that students and staff are safe in school,” said Gordon Jonathan Lewis, UNICEF The Gambia Representative, according to the statement. “We have already redirected important resources to support The Gambia’s COVID-19 response and this includes the safe reopening of schools.”
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in The Gambia, UNICEF has reprogrammed more than US$4 million of the agency’s regular and emergency budgets to support the country’s response to the pandemic and ensure continuity of services across a range of sectors, including keeping children learning through distance learning programmes and provision of hand washing stations, the statement said.
“Furthermore, as recent as September, UNICEF made an additional commitment of more than US$1 million to consolidate the agency’s COVID-19 support. Of the total reprogrammed amount, approximately US$850,000 have been destined to the education sector,” the statement added.
“UNICEF has always been a close partner of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education,” Minister Cole said, according to the statement. “We are happy and encouraged by this support and looking forward to stronger collaboration with UNICEF.”
The Wednesday meeting came as a courtesy call on Minister Cole, the first face to face interaction between the two officials since Mr Lewis joined the UNICEF office in The Gambia as Country Representative in late August.
