New Floors for Bakalarr Classrooms

Background

Bakalarr Basic Cycle School, in the North Bank Region, is reached from Banjul by using the ferry across the Gambia River to Barra, followed by a road journey of about 15km. [ Map showing Bakalarr BCS ] The school serves five local villages, and has Grades from 1 to 9, as well as a nursery class. Pageant began visiting the school in 2001, and has helped in many ways over the years, but much of the credit for the huge improvements achieved is down to the enthusiasm and commitment of its headmaster Mr Bakary Gitteh.

On Pageant's first visit to Bakalarr Basic Cycle School, we noticed that although there were sturdy modern buildings, the original floors were simply the natural sandy earth. You can imagine the problems this caused. Pageant paid for concrete floors to be laid in the classrooms.

children sitting at their desks in a classroom showing the old sand floor

parents and staff mixing concrete

one of the classrooms showing concrete laid over half of the floor

the completed new floor