“Suulu-war ko ning suuwar ka kuu daameng faanoo faanang kaa keh warlehto, aadangmaa teh maalula” Mandinka Proverb (The wolf says if dusk and dawn happens simultaneously, he won’t be the only one to hold his head in shame)
How true a statement from Mr. Wolf, who in Mandinka mythology has never done anything good.
A society which eulogies corrupt men and women and corruption itself, the number onr enemy of development, has found it nice to condemn a young girl for an act it considers wrong but less grievous than corruption.
A people who have remained mute in the face of 22 years of tyranny and at most feigning neutrality because only “unpatriotic citizens” dared oppose who Allah had anointed as “leader” are all over the placing casting aspersions on a young girl they dont even know but could not condemn Yaya in his “life time”. Yaya Jammeh and his cohort, including administrators, professionals and religious and traditional leaders, committed far greater sins and we indulged them. We praised them at the height of their fame; we prayed for their long lives. And here we are, posturing a holier-than-thou attitude.
Yaya gave millions to schools just to party at the beaches and school authorities organised these events without a pang of remorse, when their schools lacked basic facilities and learning materials for quality education. And even MoBSE found that very okay- it never publicly spoke against it as far as i know. Yes, “school authorities could not have said no or suggested some other more beneficial ventures. Their hands were tired.” Spare me that moth-eaten, trite excuse.
MoBSE organised beauty pageants at the expense of the State, and when some schools do not have labs or better libraries, and MoBSE found that very ok. At least it never publicly spoke against the waste. Yes, some students gained scholarships from the competition. But the competition itself was out of sync with our “culture” just as you think this young girl’s dance was out of tune with our culture, whatever is the shape and content of that elephant in the room.
What actions do most schools take when students are sexually harassed by teachers, a sort of a quid pro quo sexual harassment, or even made pregnant by them? What do the rest of us do? What do we do when we know of sexual harassment at the work place or an underhand dealing or misuse of public funds?
And here is a young girl who, in a moment of overjoy, acted otherwise, and us and Gambia High think she deserves expulsion, not a second change. Teachers have made students pregnant and all they got was support from school authorities and transfer to another school. Am sure if you GHS puts a mirror to its face, it would not like what it will see.
What this girl has done is not any great sin for which she deserved to be roundly condemned by adults. I think if every adult puts a mirror to his or her face, they would not like what they see. If every adult reminisced over his or her teenage period and youth and even adulthood we may see a lot of scenes, mental pictures, we would be ashamed of. When i recall my school, at High School or Uni and those of others i know, chei Allah. I and they were lucky we weren’t caught or thanked God we were given a 100th chance. Just recall your youthful period at that party, passing out ceremony, at that vous, at that beach party, in the dark along that street path or things you do now in the “dark”, things society frowns upon or prohibited by your religion and tell us if you will sit on your high horse and pontificate and judge. Who isn’t a sinner seeking forgiveness and doing repentance daily? Who amongst us is without sins? Who?
This young girl, i dont know who she is and where she comes from but i want her to know she has my support and understanding and in me a campaigner for her cause. She has fallen victim to a bully of a society which is sexist and double standard in matters it sees “immoral” when committed by men and women. She has already suffered enough for a mischief which is out of proportion to the public opprobrium. Yet the school isn’t satisfied with this punishment- it is destroying a young girl’s future and her dreams.
By expelling this girl from school, whose interest truly is the school authorities protecting? What greater good will it serve? Whose good? Will it prevent similar aberrations by the students? Will it not drive the issues underground and to more dangerous levels? Is expulsion from school the sanction for going beyond the social pale? Is the school pandering to Facebook condemnation or so concerned about its imagine because a particular dance was done in its uniform? Would it have reacted similarly if she was in her casual wear? Has the dance done any serious dishonour to the school’s name that it is in total disrepute, irreparable and irretrievable? Is there anything to lose face about?
Get this Gambia: children learn what they see, feel and hear in their environment. Look at the environment closely, both the private and public environments, and tell me if you like what you see; if it could give us otherwise. Why blame children. Look thoroughly inside.
I stand with this innocent girl.
Njundu you are a true Gambian and the son of your father. I can’t agree more.
God Bless this son of Gambia who truly gets it.
Sure, the girl & co-students need some therapeutic help; to facilitate them through the personal awareness levels that all human & fallible beings vary in; especially when in the ‘young & foolish’ tender age which these students belong to currently….
My old boy grandfather would say ‘a child would offend on something that warrants beating (child) up daily, due to age & immaturity; it’s only when the child does something equivalent literally to murder, is the (only) time a parent mustn’t spare the rod (to beat the child up) because that warrant sending a message across out to others too; (my old boy believed)…
I would believe there can be a correctional punishment sort too; to rebuke the students & serve as deterrent for other students’ behaviour in future; especially when in a school uniform as they were (which is very noble to all scholars aspiring to responsibilities entrusting); in some form of apologies from the students at least; or some reasonable suspension at most, etc…
But total exclusion as been reported is too excessive a punishment; even criminals & murderers have to go to jail for some correctional punishments; with rights to rehabilitation & reintegration into societ; much more these students…
These poor juvenile students were betrayed by their choice of judgment; at the material time; but their rights to education can’t be underscored…
The Education Ministry must take charge; to engage the school authorities & the students in intervention; to set the issue straight before too late…
It is so sad that school authorities allowed or organised musical programs like this in our schools all in the name of fundraising. It is the school authorities who are to be blame for the whole incident not the students. I want to believe that this is a common activity in our schools now a days. It is just that this particular one happened to be publicized in the social media.
The act of expulsion of the students in my view is a cover-up of the failure of the school authorities who are the custodians of these kids while they are at school.
State authorities should put a stop to all such activities in our schools where our kids are expected to learn not only academic subjects but also morals in preparation for their role as future leaders in our society.
I’m afraid, but this is not one of Mr Drammeh’s best pieces. I can understand the sympathy for the young girl, not for the arguments put forth, but perhaps, as a victim of her circumstances. Thus, she and anyone expelled should be given all the support they need to mitigate against the effects of their expulsion. However, we mustn’t ignore the effects of their actions on others, and since, “he/she who feels it knows it best”, who better to listen to, than one of the reps of these affected innocent souls. Here’s the Head Girl of Gambia Senior Secondary School, @ Standard.gm:
“The head girl of GSSS, Channeh Camara, described the incident as “shocking and unbelievable”.
She said she felt “very sad” to see her peers involve themselves in such a degenerate act. “In fact, now days, I am so ashamed to wear my school uniform for the fact that I am not as proud as I used to be,” she emotionally said.
She said she welcomed the decision by the school management to expel the eight students from the school. “In fact they should have punished them severely well before they expel them. They should have been brought in front of the assembly and disgraced in the presence of the entire students,” she stated.”
Just keep these girls (victims themselves, through no fault of theirs) in mind when you support the expelled “victims”.
Like I stated Jack, punishment should be proportional to “crime” committed, and circumstances surrounding the crime need to be taken into consideration. This is why I said earlier that a whole host of factors should be known to us, in order to agree or disagree with expulsion as appropriate and justified here.
We know school children belong to peer groups, and as the saying, “show me your friend and I will tell you who you are” goes, often, they share the same interests and get into things together. Is it possible that this group of students have had disciplinary issues at school before? Could it be that they have been admonished or even sanctioned before for behavioural issues? Could it be that this incident was the latest in a catalogue of issues that finally broke the camel’s back for the school authority? If “Yes”, then I will say that expulsion is appropriate and justified. People have rights to be given chances, but no one deserves an infinite amount of chances. At some point, the book has to be thrown at the individual(s) or the codes, rules and regulations might as well be thrown into the dust bin.
If, on the other hand, these are first time offenders, then I will say that the punishment is harsh, disproportionate and unjustified. A suspension, like you said, and perhaps, a meeting with the kids and their parents, would have sufficed here, to serve as a deterrence. I can understand the overreaction of the school, which I hope, will shock the kids into realisation that what they did was unacceptable. Hopefully, the decisions to expel will be rescinded, when discussions have concluded, as the MoBSE is involved and has already written to schools concerned for explanations.
As for the teachers, there is absolutely no doubt that holding them accountable to their duties and responsibilities is an integral part of their professional development requirements and terms of employment. It should not take an incident like this for teachers to be held accountable. They should, and must always be held accountable on a daily, weekly, monthly, termly and yearly basis, both in academic work and professional conduct.
I was actually surprised that Mr Drammeh intimated that teachers impregnate school girls and get support from schools or get transferred to other schools. This is a very serious allegation and if true, then that will constitute a serious failure on the part of the authorities at both the local and national levels. A teacher who benefits from such a protection must be well connected to very powerful and influential people in the country, unless the usual Gambian “maslahaa” comes into play. Otherwise, I cannot see any other way where a teacher can get away with impregnating a student in the Gambia of the 21st century.
Think about it Jack: the school administration may want to cover such a teacher, but they have to worry about other staff members and even if they can get every staff member in on this conspiracy, there will still be a lot of other obstacles to overcome for such a cover up to work: from the girl’s parents, the community, the regional education office, the Ministry of Education, as well as, the Social Welfare Dept. and Ministry of Health. All these individuals and institutions have to be on board for this conspiracy to succeed. That is indeed a tall order for any school administration, I’m afraid to say.
Bax, there need not to be any conspiracy because all the institutions you mentioned above are more or less defunct. I have known of secondary school teachers who where having sexual relationships with their students because they did impregnated them and like Njundu said , the said teacher was only moved to another school where he did the same thing again. I know that there are regulatory bodies for nurses and doctors and dentist, although one could argue their effectiveness, but i am not sure if there is one for teachers. Bax , i think you should come off the fence. This is what GSSS Principal said according to the Standard Newspaper “We have to take severe measures in ensuring that these kind of things are not repeated. The recommendation taken by the board will serve as a deterrent so that others will not copy. In African society, moral dancing is valued. So why go in for a dance that originated from the Caribbean or certain part of Africa that they called ‘Pasa-Pasa’, and this is what the MSSS Principal said according to the same newspaper “In fact I never knew this kind of dance happens here until someone showed it to me. We are all disappointed and angry with the people who organised it and even the students who participated in it,” From these statements it is clear that this students are just been punished by two self-righteous, arrogant judgmental individuals who think they can hold the ministry at ransom by threatening to resign if the students are not expelled. Hon Badara Joof should sack them for that threat. He should say it is a deterrent for other Principals who may attempt to blackmail the ministry in the future and lets see how they will like that. Bax, there will be nothing in the schools code that mentions “Pasa Pasa”, the only thing that these students can be punished for is bringing the names of their schools into disrepute and since the dance was at the school with their fellow students and not a public show, you cannot accuse them of soiling the schools name. The person who should be punished is the person who recorded a private party dance and uploaded it onto social media. I wonder if the principals would have reacted the same way if these students were dancing “Ndagga” and their underwear were showing in the recording or if they were recorded doing “Teyakh” to a “Ndagga” tune. I am more worried about the statements associated to the GSSS Head Girl. As Head Girl, she should be taking a leading role in trying to unearth why what happened, happened, and work with the school authorities, the students and their parents to find a way forward, not calling for their public humiliation. She sounds like a female version of the two self righteous judgmental principals. Like i said in a previous post, if these students are expelled, their parents should sue the schools and the Ministry.
Buba,
1. I don’t know why you think I’m sitting on the fence, because I think I have been very clear in what I think about the incident and actions taken. To reiterate again, my view is that the justification or not, of the expulsions will depend on other factors, which I alluded to in my post, through questions I raised. I stated that the decision to expel will be harsh, unjustified and disproportionate, if the students were first time offenders, but that won’t be the case, if they were repeated offenders, as you can’t give infinite number of chances to people. An administrator has to finally be very firm, if faced with repeated violations of institutional rules and codes, otherwise, the rules and codes become redundant. I hope that settles the “sitting on the fence” matter.
2. I don’t know your professional background, but I started off as a teacher and remained in the profession for over 10 years. I have no problem with allegations about teachers impregnating students, because this does happen in the profession sometimes. My problem is with the claim of support (to cover up or condone) claimed to be given by schools. I am saying, from my experience within education and the administrative/management setups, that there has to be an incredible degree of connivance for such a cover up to succeed and I maintain that position here.
3. We have to be careful about transfers of teachers alleged to have impregnated their students and unless we know the facts, we should not assume that the transferred teacher was guilty of the crime alleged and was only transferred to protect him or cover up his crime.
I have served in a school where such an issue had come up and I was privy to the investigation, which cleared the teacher, because I was a member of the initial investigation team at the school level. A teacher, who later got associated with the pregnancy, was eventually transferred from the entire region, because his position became untenable within the community. May be, I should give a bit more to show you what can happen in such situations.
Will continue in about two hours…..
Buba,
I was fortunate (I might say) that except during my trainee years (2yrs) as a student teacher, I have always been privileged to be close to the administration of every school I have been posted, and to assume some administrative role, other than my normal classroom ones. In this particular school, I was the Secretary to the administration team (Head, Deputy Head & all Senior Masters/Mistresses) and head of a school committee dealing with student affairs.
When we got wind of a pregnancy in one of the senior classes, the matter was brought to the attention of the head, who convened a meeting (administration team) to discuss the issue. It was decided to carry out an investigation, which established the truth and identified her peers for further action, all quietly of course. A fact finding committee was then formed comprising the head, deputy head, chairman of PTA, senior Quran/Arabic teacher and myself.
On the day of investigation, we rounded up all the girls and interviewed them individually, with non already interviwed allowed access to those waiting to be interviewed.
Our investigation established that the girl was almost 4 months pregnant and all the girls, including the pregnant one, named the same person and provided corroborative information on how it happened; ie, when the two meet, where they meet, how they meet and how often they meet. At no point was any teacher mentioned during those interrogation sessions. The girls parents were informed and it was agreed that the girl would be withdrawn from school, whilst other support arrangements are solicited for her. The boy named wasn’t a student, so we did not concern ourselves with his side of the story.
Shortly afterwards, probably a day or two, we received reports that a group of boys had accosted one of our teachers and accused him of impregnating the girl, but threatened her to name a village boy. We were surprised to hear this and the head called the teacher to hear his story, in my presence. He was very shocked and angry and wanted to pursue the matter further by lodging a report at the Police against the boy who made the allegations. It wasn’t the named boy but one of his mates.
Apparently, the boys had come in a group at night (around 9pm), one of them called him respectfully to one side, and made the allegation to his face. He reacted by grabbing the kid by neck, insisting that he reveal the source of information. There was a commotion and a crowd began to gather, so he released the chap and decided to pursue the matter through lawful channels. We advised him against that course of action and assured him that the school had dealt with it, and that there was nothing for him to worry about.
But, you know what Gambians are. The rumours persisted, even within the staff, and eventually it got to the Regional Office and we were required to provide an explanation, which we did. It may even had got to the Ministry because an investigation team, comprising an official from the Regional Official, a very senior Headmistress, perhaps one of the most senior heads in the whole region, who was head of a nearby school, an official from the Social Welfare Dept. and a Police Officer, arrived at the school one day, out of the blue.
They had the Report we wrote to the Regional Office and interrogated us on the report, and took names and addresses of all the girls we interviewed. They proceeded to homes of all these girls and the boy named. Not once did they request to meet this teacher because he was irrelevant. The facts did not lead them to him. His name wasn’t mentioned even once; not even remotely by anyone, except the accused boy but he couldn’t give any sources for his information, except that he heard from others that the girl used to attend night studies with the teacher, in his house. (I will come to that bit later).
At the end, the girl got support from Social Welfare, completed her primary education and went on to secondary (upper basic) school. The boy’s parents accepted the child and she carried their family name. That should have been end of the story, but it wasn’t, and what happened soon after the official investigation was completed, is what led to the teacher’s transfer from the region.
The rumours persisted on the pretext that his “mouth” would not have been stained, if he didn’t eat from the pot. This was erroneous because he was never named and no one had even alleged that they had suspected that he has had any sexual contact with the girl. Unfortunately, he got involved in an altercation with a staff member, who then brought the issue of the pregnant girl up, indirectly suggesting that the teacher was guilty of the crime. This resulted to an immergency staff meeting being called to brief the staff on the outcome of the two investigations and absolve the teacher completely. A transfer request was put in for the teacher because working in that kind of environment was not healthy for him and the school. So, people who don’t have all the facts, may think that the school protected the teacher, and whilst there may be some truth in that, it wasn’t for the reasons they may think. He was innocent of the allegation, but the stigma has already been attached to him. So he had to be relocated.
Buba,
You may know that school heads can’t effect the transfer of a teacher to/from their school. They can only make a request to that effect. Only the Regional Office can effect transfers.
About the girl’s night studies at the teacher’s house. You see, there was a confusion in names. It was true that a particular girl, with the same first name as the pregnant girl, was attending night studies at the teacher’s house, with her younger sister. The parents of these girls were called to the school for a chat and they had no concerns for the safety of their children with this teacher, whatsoever. Many were very upset with what happened to this teacher, and the one who had an altercation with him was eventually forced to seek a transfer, much to our relief. He was one of those characters that no head wants in their school: he drinks, smokes weed, never does his lesson notes and plans, always late and sometimes won’t turn up for work; just full of issues.
To conclude Buba, I will not dispute allegations that professional misconduct (of sexual nature) resulting to pregnancies, do occasionally occur in schools, but I hesitate to accept any claims that schools condone this and connive with culprits. Transfer of teachers could happen but this does not necessarily point to culpability and guilt.
Of course, Gambians are still affected by that culture of “maslahaa” and some culprits may get away with such misconduct, but that blame lies more on society, than individual schools, though schools found guilty of such malpractices should be held fully accountable. There should be no excuses; no “ifs” and “buts”. If a teacher impregnates a student or has sexual relationship with a student, he/she loses his/her job, gets prosecuted and sent to prison, signs a sex offenders register and gets struck off the teaching profession. It’s that simple, if we want to stamp out this unwanted behaviour.
Anyone who covers the crime or attempts to do so should be punished and made to suffer for attempting to thwart the course of justice. We have to start moving away from this culture of “maslahaa”, which allowed the emergence of Yaya Jammeh on July 22nd, and begin holding people to account, regardless of sex, status and connections. (END)
Bax, thanks for confirming to me that you are sitting on the fence. I know you are an intelligent man so you would have logically deduced from the statements from both principals that these students were not involved in any disciplinary procedures in the past since neither principal made mention of it in their statements. Bax, the approach that your school adopted in that girls case is a similar approach that these two principals should follow, not take a judgmental position. It is very worrying that two people who should be welcoming all children with open arms, especially troubled children, are the very ones hell bent on destroying the lives of those same children. These two principals have demonstrated a very severe poor judgment, lack of caring and arrogance in threatening the Ministry with resignations unless the students are expelled from school. Furthermore, they only acted to punish the students after the video became public knowledge. They should both be sacked because they have a duty of care to the students and have failed in that respect. Did they have written consent from the students’ parents to go to a dance from GSSS to MSSS. For all we know the parents were not aware of their children attending a dance. And even if they had permission from parents for the students to attend a dance, it should be held under adult supervision. If there was no adult supervision then the school is at fault but if there was a responsible adult then that adult should be the one to punish. Either way the buck stops with the two principals, therefore their positions are untenable. Bax, am sure that during the years teaching you have seen parents asking teachers to take guardianship of their children because the said children have behavioral issues. And many of those children have turned their lives around thanks to those teachers interventions. Fast forward to 2017 and you have these two principals driving children away from them. Bax, the teacher i mentioned above had actually accepted both pregnancies and had christened both children as his and is now a grandfather. However, I agree with you that the transfers are not part of a grand conspiracy but rather a result of “Maslahaa” and an ineffective regulatory body.
The principals threatening to resign are guilty of blowing things out of proportion. There is no need for threats here. Do your job and let others do theirs. None should impose a judgement on the other. If, as you claimed, this was a school organised programme, then serious questions have to be asked, not only about this one, but how extra-curricular/fund raising activities in general, are conducted and managed by schools.
Heads must roll if this was a school organised programme and we must ensure that people are held respomsible for any failings that contributed to this unwanted display of obscenity in public by school children. Let’s wait and follow events as investigations continue. Hopefully, common sense will prevail.
I would like the principlas who are threatening to resign to do so for taking an irresponsible decision. As soon as they resign a better qualified Gambian principal should immediately be appointed. It’s a BLUFF!
They have irresponsibly participated in CRUSHING the defenceless girl’s future without giving here the opportunity to life which is linked to her EDUCATION.
I read views across different social media platforms that are formed on erroneous assumptions and I think it is important that someone points this out.
Getting expelled from one school doesn’t equate to being barred from education for life. The girls expelled from GSSS only lose the privilege of attending a prestigious school (as GSSS is probably the most prestigious sch. in Gambia, since Fr. Gough left SAHS), but they can enroll in other Senior Secondary Schools and complete that cycle.
Views that seem to imply that their lives will be ruined or that they will become street girls, as a consequence of their expulsions, are erroneous. That can only happen as personal choices, but not directly consequential to the expulsions.
I know we have talked about institutional responsibilities, and pointed out the possibility that this behaviour could have been due to institutional failings, but there are personal responsibilities, and these cannot be negated by institutional failings. That’s a FACT that cannot, and should never, be simply be ignored and brushed aside, even if those being called to account are young adults.
Bax, that’s people getting emotional rather than factual.
Bax,
The girl has already been stigmatized from day one of her expulsion. Which school would she go to where she would find an amicable, educative and conducive learning atmosphere? This girl will undoubtedly be harassed by unscrupulous boys and even men who would want to engage her into sex. Knowing the mentality of our Gambian men especially when we refer to upcoming young girls, she will find a harsh atmosphere at any school she goes to until the teachers are ready to help her.
Why should she be expelled for “immoral” behaviour? Do we have to judge “morality” to keep this girl at GSSS? What type of immorality warrants a student’s expulsion?
The GSSS is a public senior secondary school which is funded by the money coming from the Gambian people, the girl’s parents among them. It is their/her property where she couldn’t be excluded on the grounds of moral judgements.
In her case, the teachers have behaved as de facto judges, executioners instead of EDUCATIONISTS. They are defending the image/reputation of GSSS, instead of her future progressive destiny, which lies squarely on her education and the teachers’ educational commitment, not by crude/hard punishments. Her punishment is very SEVERE!
How many classes on Ethics, Morality and Good Behavioural Conduct did she attend?
Can we say that Gambia is a “morally qualified” country taking into account the millions of “immoral” conducts in our homes, offices, streets, Grand Place, Ghettos, …?
We do pray as Muslims, go to Church, but how many men do rigorously adhere to the moral teachings of the beliefs/faiths/religions they belong to?