EAA launches project to reach all out-of-school children in The Gambia

The global education foundation, Education Above All (EAA) and its partner Unicef, with support from Qatar Fund For Development (QFFD), and in collaboration with the Gambian Government, launched a groundbreaking project to ensure that every child under the age of 18 who has missed out on a primary education is enrolled in school and receiving a quality education.The launch took place in the presence of Mrs Fatoumatta Bah Barrow, The First Lady of The Gambia, Ms Claudiana Ayo Cole, Gambia’s Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Mary Joy Pigozzi, Executive Director of EAA’s Educate A Child programme, and Dr Shahid Mahbub Awan, Unicef The Gambia Acting Representative.EAA's Educate A Child program partnered with Unicef in The Gambia to enroll and retain 66,765 out-of-school children (OOSC) and adolescents into quality primary education and the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education will implement the three-year project across the country.The goal of this project is to ensure that all the remaining OOSC in the country are enrolled in quality primary education, thus helping the country achieve Zero Out-of-School Children.The project will employ several innovative strategic interventions including, community engagement to drive demand for education services, cash transfer programmes both as an incentive and to ease financial burdens, and the provision of bicycles to students who have to travel long distances to school, to encourage attendance.The Zero Out-of-School Children in The Gambia project, the latest to join EAA's Zero OOSC: Educate Every Child initiative, will also ensure that adolescents who missed primary school have another opportunity to return to school through non-formal alternative learning pathways that lead to certification and transition to upper primary school.After achieving its goal of educating 10mn out-of-school children, EAA's Educate A Child programme continues its commitment to OOSC by adding another strategy to find creative ways that enable every child to realise their right to quality primary education.Zero OOSC is working with the governments and other partners in countries with small numbers of remaining OOSC to ensure that no child is left behind when it comes to education. (QNA)