Africa-Press – Gambia. ChildFund The Gambia, a non-governmental organization empowering women and children, has Wednesday donated 1000 bicycles to the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education(MoBSE) for onward distribution to primary schools across the country.
The gesture came under the Zero Out of School Children (ZOOSC) project, which aims to enroll over 66,000 children currently out of school. ChildFund, MoBSE, UNICEF, and Education for ALL Network (EFANET) are the implementing partners of the project, which is funded by Educate a Child (EAC) of the Education Above All Foundation of Qatar.
This is the second part of a total of 3000 bicycles to be contributed by ChildFund towards the project. Initially, 500 bicycles were handed over by ChildFund to MoBSE as the first contribution. The purpose is to ease the transportation challenges faced by schoolchildren in attending school.
Nfamara Dabo, deputy country representative of ChildFund, alluded that his organization has committed to the task because, from experience and information received from their partners, they have learned that thousands of children are out of school because they lack the means of transportation to and from schools. He said Child Fund believes that the bicycles will ease that barrier and, therefore, contribute to the enrollment goal.
He explained that ChildFund received additional funding to purchase hundreds of bicycles soonand has already achieved a milestone in this endeavor.
“We have received funding for an additional 700 bicycles and the procurement process of which will soon commence. At this point, we can comfortably inform our partners that we have achieved about 70 of our target grant match commitments. Plans are already in place to acquire the remaining bikes in the coming months. I want to emphasize that these bikes are purely for primary school children,” he revealed.
He assured ChildFund’s continued commitment to the welfare of children, adding that they will not relent until every child realizes his /her potential.
He said the project has already enrolled over 29,000 ‘out of school children.
Nuha Jatta, a representative of UNICEF, Omar Jarjusey EFANET country coordinator, both urged the beneficiaries to make good use andtake good care of the provisions.
Paul K. Mendy, representative of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, assured proper use of the bikes. He said the gesture will ease the burden of enrollment in schools as his ministry is constrained due to a lack of mobilityfor children.
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