GAMBIA: Poor teaching quality slows education progress

BANJUL Tuesday, November 04, 2008 (IRIN) - Enrolment rates at all levels of education have improved in The Gambia since 2000, but with too few qualified teachers and low staff retention levels, fewer than half of Gambian students pass standardised tests. In 2008 national exams, just 20 percent of grade-three students passed English and 18 percent Maths. Grade-five students fared little better – 30 percent of them passed English and 13 percent Maths, according to a Department of Education...