Sunshine-Preschool in the small village Taibatou
Taibatou is a small village in the West Coast region of The Gambia, not far from Sanyang.
The preschool formerly built and maintained by some British in 2007 was handed over to the responsibility of our association in 2018, after the British supporters withdrew and the village initially continued the school operation independently.
There are currently 50 girls and boys in three classes. Between 8:00 and 8:30 in the morning, the "students", as the Gambian teachers affectionately call their pupils, stream to school. They all wear their school uniform according to the British model.
Systemic education in Gambia
Systemic education basically means empowerment for self-organization.
In our Gambian preschools, the aim is for children to use all their senses to learn about their world in a diverse, creative and cooperative way. And because learning English before entering elementary school is of utmost importance for their success at school, the "students" are accompanied bi-lingually by their teachers while playing and learning English for the first time. Traditional teaching methods such as speaking and singing English verses together are used, as well as independent, interest-led play. For this purpose, it was and is necessary not only to provide suitable play material, but also to discuss and establish new teaching concepts.
Our teachers at Sunshine-Preschool
Adama, Ismaila and Kaddy live in Taibatou themselves. They are familiar with their students from an early age, and at the same time they enjoy the full respect of their students. From our point of view, they are excellent learning companions, who convey the traditions of their country as well as being open and interested in other concepts of action in the spirit of systemic education.
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Building Measures
Just in the Sunshine-Preschool supported by us, numerous construction measures were necessary in the past years. Toilets were built, new playground equipment was constructed and installed, the roof of the main building had to be repaired in 2020 as well as in 2021 due to heavy storms and, in the annex building, where the little ones from level 1 have their room, water penetrated through the roof at the beginning of the rainy season in 2021.
For the upcoming year, we plan to have a fence built around the school grounds and then have a new well drilled and a water tank built so that Sunshine Preschool will have running water againt