Demba Jallow djallow99@yahoo.

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A CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL:

A comprehensive research on the performance of Senior School

Students in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in
Region Two the Gambia, from the year 2000-2008.

This dissertation has been supervised, accepted and approved by the

Coordinator Department of General Management Dr. Sassi Ndure of the
management Development Institute (MDI).

Supervisor: Dr Sassi Ndure

Signature:

Head of Institution: Mr. / Mrs.:

Signature:

Stamp:
DEDICATION

This dissertation is especially dedicated to my son Abdoulie Jallow who

is my world and to my dear mother for her relentless support that she
has and still providing for me, making sure that my desired undertaken
are effectively met.

Ultimately, I do imagine how my world will be, without her precious

contribution, mother you are wonderful and quite significant to my life;
you are the best thing that has ever happen to me THANK YOU.

However, this text is also dedicated to my supportive wife and my

mother in-law, who has created the requisite conducive environment
that I significantly needed to successfully undergo my training.
I also want to cease this opportunity to thank all the lecturers /
instructors for their commitment to the course, in particular the
coordinator Department of General Management (MDI), who has been
totally committed and worked tirelessly to ensure that all our
unlimited demands are met adequately and on time, who is known
other than Dr. Sassi Ndure.

This text will not be complete if I did not remember my remarkable

batch mates during the training.

Thus, I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my classmates both in

the Certificate and Diploma programs respectively (2008-2009), for
their respect, relentless support, mutual trust and understanding for
each other during the course, and hope that we continue relentlessly in
our quest for quality relevant knowledge and skills for the sole purpose
of the continuous development of our great Nation the Gambia.
May Allah, the Almighty, the creator, Sustainer and the Developer of the
Earth and the Universe, continue to shower His Blessing on us and grant
us long life and good health in order to permit us with ness more
Glorious days in peace. Amen.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: not yet done.

ABSTRACT:

This dissertation is about measuring the performance of the senior

school students in the West African Senior School Certificate
Examination in Region Two the Gambia holistically, paying a particular
attention on the following subjects, English Language, Mathematics and
Science.
Essentially, the objectives of these studies are to highlight the
importance of Education. For the entire government machinery relies
not only on the able bodied but able bodied who are professionals and
technocrats in various fields to be able to effectively run the affairs of
the country.

In addition to this, if the Gambia is to be highly industrialized, there is

the need of much focus to be place on the above subjects which the
government is relentlessly providing. But for success to be effectively
attained, the students need to put fort adequate efforts to contribute
their quarter in the achievement of such a precious aspiration
(objectives)

However, the studies targeted senior secondary schools in the scope of

the research, through visit and the administration questionnaires to
principals and

senior head teachers, WAEC, Regional office Brikama, Ministry of

Education, Parents and Students.
The researcher also consulted various books and the internet in search
of relevant information to the thesis.

In short, knowledge has created a new increasingly important class of

professionals and technocrats, the abundance of who can effectively
foster social economic development in the Gambia.

For the fact that, this class whose main commodity is high quality
knowledge and skills, become/will become decision makers in all
spheres of society, particularly in the areas of politics, science(scientist)
and economy (economist) which are very much pertinent for a
developing country such as The Gambia and her citizens.

TABLE OF CONTENT: PAGE

Certification a
Dedicationb

Acknowledgement...c

Abstractd

CHAPTER 1

Introduction1.1

Problem statement.1.2
Significance.1.3

Justification.1.4

Hypothesis1.5

CHAPTER 2

Objectives of the research..2.1

Limitation2.2
CHAPTER 3

Methodology.3.1

Literature review.3.2

CHAPTER 4

Result and analysis.4.1

Discussion.4.2

CHAPTER 5
Findings.5.1

Conclusions...5.2

Recommendations5.3

References.5.4

Appendix...5.5
CHAPTER 1:

1.1: INTRODUCTION:-

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:-

The history of education is the history of teaching and learning, and the
history of what might be described as the curricula: what it is that is
taught or learned.

Learning something new or news of some kind has been around forever.
Education has taken place in most communities since earliest times as
each generation has sought to pass on cultural and social values,
traditions, morality, religion, knowledge and skills to the next
generation. The passing on of culture is also known as enculturation,
and the learning of social values and behaviors is socialization.

The history of the curricula of such education reflects human history

itself, the history of knowledge, beliefs, skills and cultures of humanity.

In pre-literate societies, education was achieved orally and through

observation and imitation. The young learned informally from their
parents, extended family and kin. At later stages of their lives, they
received instruction of a more structured and formal nature, imparted
by people not necessarily related, in the context of initiation, religion or
ritual.

As the customs and knowledge of ancient civilizations became more

complex, many skills would have been learned from an experienced
person on the job, in animal husbandry, agriculture, fishing, preparation
and preservation of food, construction, stone work, metal work, boat
building, the making of weapons and defenses, the military skills, and
many other occupations. However, with the development of writing, it
became possible for stories, poetry, knowledge,

beliefs and customs to be recorded and passed on more accurately to

people out of earshot and to future generations.

In many societies, the spread of literacy was slow, orality and illiteracy
remained predominant of much of the population for centuries and
even millennia, Literacy

in pre-industrial societies was associated with civil administration, law,

long distance trade or commerce, and religion.

A formal schooling in literacy was often only available to a small part of

the population, either at religious institutions or for the wealthy who
could afford to pay for their tutors. The earliest known universities, or
places of higher education, started teaching a millennium or more ago.

Ultimately, universal education of all children in literacy has been a

recent development, not occurring in many countries until after 1850
CE. Even today, however, in some parts of the world, literacy rates are
below 60 percent (for example, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
most of Africa).

Notwithstanding, schools, colleges and universities have not been the

only methods of formal education and training. Many professions have
additional training requirements, and in Europe, from the middle Ages
until recent times, the skills of a trade were not generally learnt in a
classroom, but rather by serving an apprenticeship.

In the modern days, formal education consists of systematic instruction,

teaching and training by professional teachers. This however, consists of
the application of pedagogy and the development of curricula.
Throughout pre-history, most education was achieved orally and
through observation and imitation. However, from the origin of our
species, thought by many anthropologists to have been around 200,000
years ago in the African savanna, until about 10,000BC, most humans
lived as hunter-gatherers. Some of

these peoples however, settled in a given locale/region and others

exhibited a nomadic lifestyle across a large territory.

These bands of clans or tribes had traditions, beliefs, values, practices

and local knowledge which were passed orally for generations from
person to person. The young learned informally from their parents,
extended family and kin.

At the later stages of their lives, they received instruction of a more

structured and formal nature, imparted by people not necessarily
related, in the context of initiation, religion or ritual.

Some forms of traditional knowledge were expressed through stories,

legends, folklore, rituals and songs, without the need for a writing
system. Tools to aid this process encompass poetic devices such as
rhyme and alliteration. These methods are illustrative of orality.

The stories thus preserved are also referred to as part of an oral

tradition.

The advent of agriculture prompted the Neolithic Revolution, when

access to food surplus led to the formation of permanent human
settlements, the domestication of some animals and the use of metal
tools.

Notwithstanding, settlement, agriculture and metalwork brought new

knowledge and skills to be learned and taught by each generation. As
communities grew larger, there was more opportunity for some
members to specialize in one skill or activity or another, becoming
priests, artisans, traders, builders or laborers. Many skills would have
been learned from an experienced person on the job.
Essentially, if the primary socialization begins at home, then the school
is the first taste of secondary socialization the human being encounters.
It is here that the transition from the particular values of the society is
made. However, education selects and categorizes the human animal,
ensuring that it is well equipped to take its place within society as a
useful, functioning member of the productive process.

Ultimately, it can be seen as stamping out originality, creativity and

imagination and substituting passive, unquestioning conformity to social
rules and obedience to authority. Its purpose may be to instill discipline
and respect or to give every one an equal chance to broaden their
intellectual and emotional life. Some people, however, would say it
provides a small minority with an intensive, high quality

Process of intellectual stimulation until they are 21 years old, and give
the majority a lower quality, basic education until they are 16 years.

Notwithstanding, others believe it operates to reproduce the capitalist

class system, gender roles and patriarchal relationships. However, at
school pupils learn to read, write, calculate, fight, smoke and develop
social and sexual relationships.
All of this and more can be found in education, and as usual the
definition you choose depends on your theory. Where you look and
what you find, and therefore how you explain it, all depend upon
whether you use a functionalist, Marxist, feminist or interactionist
perspective. Generally speaking, the arguments about education all
revolve around the question of differential achievement. If one may ask,
why do some groups of people or members of the working class, some
ethnic minorities and women tend to fail at school in comparison with
whites, males and the middle class?

It is already obvious that there is some complexity here and there are no
right answers, just good or bad arguments. The secondary socialization
process ensures that the general roles of social life are experienced, and
there is great stress laid upon the role of the school in training for
citizenship, that is learning your duties and responsibilities as a member
of your society.

There is however, a great deal of functionalism in educational policy and

thus one may thought of it as a process of instruction an individual or a
group of people that impart knowledge and skills in those involved. In
our quest to acquire quality relevant knowledge and skills, however,
Senior School Education is a significant
determining factor in the success or failure of an individual or a
students educational career.

In this contemporary world, the driving force of meaningful

development not only in the Gambia but the world at large is
realistically without doubt resting on the fundamental pillars of high
quality relevant knowledge and skills that can be

genuinely utilized to effectively promote socio economic development in

all avenues / sectors.

This is because for the entire government machinery and the private
sector to function well, there is the need for high quality relevant
knowledge and skills to be acquired by the citizenary of this great nation
The Gambia. One would thus, imagine how this fabulous planet of the
solar system (the earth) would and continue to look like without these
requisite knowledge and skills to invent the various stuffs that exist
already.
In the Gambia, however, western education was first introduced to the
indigenous people by the missionaries with an ulterior purpose of
teaching them the

Holy Bible.

However, with the advent of such, they resort to build schools such as
the St-Georgers primary school now (St-Georgers Lower Basic School)
Upper River Region(URR) and Methodist primary now called (Methodist
Lower Basic School) in the Central River Region (C R R).

In those days, this form and trend of acquiring education was not known
by the indigenous, they thus were reluctant to pay attention to it.
Ultimately, Islam and Islamic education by then was completely
dominant.

Despite all the predicaments along the rough road to success, western
education continued to grow though slowly until the 19th century, The
Gambia came to the end of decade in the year 1986, during which its
educational development had been guided by the policies and the plans
outlined in session paper No. 5 of the 1976- Education policy 1976-
1986.

This period was, however, a rapid quantitative growth in all sectors of

education. Over 50 pre-schools institutions had opened up country wide
encompassing the Western Division (now known as the Western
Region), as a result of initiatives by individuals, community groups, Non-
governmental Organizations and Religious bodies.

However, despite these achievements many concerns were being voiced

about the ability of the countrys education services to genuinely meet
individual and national human resource development needs.

Many of these worries were examined critically at the first National

conference on Youth, Sports and Culture and held at the independent
stadium Bakau from

the 21st-26th September 1987, as part of a process of consultation in

the preparation of a new education policy. (Session paper No.5 of 1988).
1.2 BACK GROUND INFORMATION OF THE WESTERN REGION:

Ultimately, Region two in the geographical division / demarcation of the

Gambia is located in the southwest of the country with part of it sharing
boarder with neighboring Cassamance in (Senegal.)

This region is divided into nine districts namely Kombo North / Saint
Mary, Kombo Central, Kombo South, kombo East, Foni Brefet, Foni
Bintang- Karanai, Foni Bondali, Foni Kansala and Foni Jarrol.

However, there are diverse ethnic groups that are found settling in this
region. Despite their diversity, they have almost the same cultural
patterns. It consists of few tribes such as the Mandingkas, Fullas, the
Jollas, Manjagos, Wollofs with some very few Sarrakuleys and Sareres
saturated in the kombos.
As the Gambian culture fully embarrasses peace, all these tribes are
founded settling together harmoniously in the same community despite
their cultural differences / diversities with some been able to speak
about two to three other languages apart from their mother tongue.

The dominant tribe, however, that is found in the kombos is the

Mandingkas, whiles in the foni is the Jollas.

Kombo north/sait Mary: In the geographical demarcation of The

Gambia, however, it is one of the nine districts of the western Region.
This part of the region is located at the south of the river Gambia in the
southwest of the country. Ultimately, this district is in the north west of
the region/division, lying between kombo south and the Banjul division.

This district happens to be the only sub-division of the western region

that is flanked by the coast on both sides by the Atlantic Ocean and the
river Gambia.

Kombo central: This district also constitute to the nine districts of the
western region. It is however, located to the south of the river Gambia in
the south west of the country.

Kombo Central is however, in the south west of the region positioned

between kombo east and kombo south. Ultimately, the regional/
administrative headquarters is founded /located in this district in a town
called Brikama.

The location of this town makes it a focal point in the district where all
the surrounding villages come to either market their produce or to buy
provisions both for domestic and other purposes.

Given the nature of the town, it also happen to be a job centre shot off
within the entire area where many civil servants( such as the area
council staff Nawec, Gamtel etc ) have their employment encompassing
the governor of the region.

Kombo south: This sub-division of the western region is another

district that is a part of the nine districts of the region. It is however,
located to the south of the river Gambia in the south west of the
country. Kombo south is in the southwest of the region that can be
located between kombo central and kombo north / sait Mary.
This district ultimately, lying at the southern Atlantic coast of the

Kombo East: Is also one of the nine districts of the western region,
which is located at the south of the countrys river (river Gambia) in the
south west of the

Country. However, kombo east is found right in the central south of the
division lying between kombo central and Foni Brefet.

Foni Brefet: This district is also apart of the region, which is located to
the south of the river Gambia in the southwest of the country.
Ultimately, this sub- geographical division is located in the center of the
region between kombo east and Foni Bintang-Karanai.
Foni Bintang-Karanai: is one of the nine districts of the countrys
western region, which is located in the south of the river Gambia in the
south west of the country. However, foni Bintang-Karanai is entirely in
the central south of the region found between foni Kansala and foni
Brefet district.

Foni Bondali: This district however is a part of the nine district of the
western region, which is located to the south of the river Gambia in the
south west of the Gambia.

It is ultimately, found / located in the south east of the western region,

between
FONI KANSALA:

Not yet done.

Foni Jarrol: It is also a part of the nine districts of the western region of
the Gambia, and it is found or located in the south of the Gambia River
in the south west of the country. It is however, found in the far east of
the region between foni Bondali and the boarder with Cassamance
(Senegal).(INSERT REFERENCE HERE)from the web.

However, the vegetation in most part of the western region is savanna

woodland with mangroves swamps in some areas where the local
women cultivate rice for domestic consumption.

In this region, there are few settlements that are located around or near
the River Gambia. The whether in this region naturally is quite receptive
both in the cold and hot seasons to all and sundry that makes it
conducive for learning.

Over the years, the western region has experience a significant progress
in the form of schools that are built by both the government and Non-
governmental Organizations in its territory, senior schools in particular.

This prestigious development has undoubtedly attracted a lot of

potential senior school students from other parts of the country to
choose schools withiregion to pursue their education desires / careers.

Ultimately, the government of the Gambia, through the Ministry of

Education has attached great importance to education particularly
senior school education.

This is because senior school education is a significant determining

stage in the success or failure of a students entire educational career.
And as result, will also determine the direction of the country in terms
impact.

Under-performing in the senior school education can pose a great threat

to the socio economic development of this country and thus exposing it
to unbearable conditions.

FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION:

In general, the functions of education are to help socialize the young

and to transmit the culture to the next generation. However,
transmitting the culture means to teach norms and values to teach
knowledge and to also train the young in diverse relevant applicable
skills. It is obvious that every society does this, but the pre-industrial
societies did so without schools and teachers, at least for the majority of
people.

However, in traditional, preliterate societies, leaning took place within

the pattern of association between adults and children in the routine of
daily activities, particularly within kinship structures.

If some conscious training took place, as it necessarily did, still no full

time teachers were needed. Literally, teaching was a task that adults
assumed as a regular part of their rearing of the young. Even when
literacy was a developed skill in pre industrial societies, the peasant
majority of the population remained illiterate, there seemed to be no
functional need for them to be able to read.

Education however, became a prerogative of particular groups. For

instance, the priests and others who were the learned men of society,
the aristocratic and ruling stratum and later, the merchants and others
involved in commercial transactions.

But modern, industrial society simply cannot function with wide spread
illiteracy. Increasingly, it required people to have higher levels of literacy
and of professional and technical training. Therefore education as a
mass process became a prerequisite for the optimum functioning of a
modern society.

THE TRANSMISSIO OF CULTURE:

In general, education indoctrinates the young in the established

ideologies of the culture and thus has been a conservative force in the
Gambian society.

Literally, even when education is less consciously concerned with

teaching prevailing values, it still does so. Values for example may play a
large part in selecting both the kind of knowledge to be taught. For
instance, teaching history often be comes a process of inculcation a
national self image and of indoctrinating the young into nationalistic and
patriotic perspectives.

EDUCATION AND ECONOMY:

In this contemporary world, the development of a modern economy by

the process of industrialization has had a radical effect on education of
which the Gambia is no exception.

This is because work has shifted from primarily manual skills,

traditionally acquired within the family, to mental work that requires
non-family training; new and demanding educational requirements
emerge. Essentially, education and

occupations become closely tied together, for educational achievement

provides the major mode of access to preferred occupational roles.

What the Gambian people can do is increasingly defined by what

education they have, and educational certification becomes necessary
for improving ones life chances.
Literally, if the lack of education severely limits any ones life chances,
and if getting an education is necessary for social mobility, then the level
of education attained is a crucial matter to every Gambian.

Generally speaking education is no longer the concern or privilege of the

few but the demands of the economy have a profound effect on the
structure of education.

However, changes in curriculum, efforts to upgrade academic and

technical performance, struggle to provide functional literacy for the
most educationally disadvantaged, responses to the demand for
scientifically trained people.

All these and other changes are indexes of educations sensitive

response to the changes in the occupational requirements of a modern
economy.

THE SCHOOL AS A MORAL AUTHORITY:

Both the private and public schools in the Gambia has long been
assigned the task of moral training. This is however, a highly pronounced
emphasis in almost all

levels of education, from the Lower Basic, Upper and Senior Schools
encompassing both the College and the University of the Gambia.

Literally, the teachers are depicted as primarily a moral authority, both

by virtue of experience and as a recognized authority on the culture.

This however, in modern technological and mobility oriented societies,

such traditional moral authority dissolves. For the fact that, in an
educated society, teachers are no longer the unique symbols of moral
authority and intellectual competence they once were, and so no longer
speak authoritatively about the culture.
One consequence of this change is fairly evident and responsible to
what is known as a crisis of authority as a fair characterization of the
role of the teacher in much educational institutions now a days

Notwithstanding, many parents, apparently, still want teachers to be an

authoritative moral force of the Gambian society, but if we are to
measure the attitudes of the public to education, lack of discipline might
emerge as the top issue, ahead of problems of school finance.

On the question of specific educational goals for senior school students,

the public might give first choice to teaching students to respect law and
order.

But there is a serious question as to whether teachers can teach respect

for law and order simply because an older generation wants them to do
so. (McKEE 1969, 1974).
FORMAL FORMS OF SCHOOLING:

In general, formal schooling refers to a process of learning, which

individuals are enrolled in school starting either in pre-schools or
primary school (Lower Basic Schools) to higher levels such as vocational
institutions, college and universities. In the Gambia, the department of
state for Education is charged with the

responsibility of running the affairs of education in the country through

curriculum administrators with various stake holders which draw the
syllabus of all the different grades encompassing that of the senior
schools and the children learn to achieve these goals through a
facilitator (s) (teacher).
However, formal schooling is the most important aspect of ones learning
process and educational undertakings.

Therefore, it helps to elevate the individual to the world, by knowing

his/her rights and the corresponding duties he owes the state,
expectations, cultural, norms and values and finally makes the world a
global village for the person to acquire the knowledge in an atmosphere
of friendly and embalmed discipline.

Notwithstanding, a person who had undergone through formal

schooling is academically, professionally and socially equipped, and thus
he/she is certificated with degrees which makes the world dynamic and
easy to dowel for him.

THE EFFECT OF FORMAL SCHOOLING:

In general, there seem to be genuine differences primarily in the way

the schooled and the unschooled people think.
However, many cross cultural differences in cognitive and intellectual
performance can at least partly, be attributed to differences in formal
schooling.

Literally, the effects of schooing now a day is much obvious to every

individual in the Gambia. Here again this effects can primarily be seen
inchildren as the ones that are schooled or attainding school are more
likely to be converse than the unschool ones and more so the schooled
children in such diverse places such as the kombos do better on various
tests of free recall than their unschooled counterparts in the provinces.

Essentially, many aspects of schooling also can significantly encourage

children to focus more on the various situations they have in common,
and this as a result, leads them to operate at more abstract level in
thinking about the day to day of

this world.
Finally, all this enhances the children with a strong set of intellectual
resources, applicable to an enormously broad perspective of ssettings.

COMPONENTS OF FORMAL FORMS OF SCHOOKING.

PRE-SCHOOLING: This is in other words a nursery school and thus, a

situation whereas children are taken to school at a very tender age for
formal socialization and exposure to diverse cultural and curriculum
activities.

Socialization is effective mostly from the age one to ten (1-10). Parents
sent their kids to pre-school for the following reasons:

For socialization