By: Haruna Kuyateh
Kuntaya Senior Secondary School in Jokadou, North Bank Region Saturday held its 2024/25 speech and prize-giving ceremony, celebrating the graduation of 76 students.
The day was meant to recognise outstanding performance in academics, hygiene, punctuality, and discipline.
Parents, families, community members, and dignitaries gathered at the school grounds to honour the graduates and reflect on the school’s remarkable transformation in recent years.
Principal Ansumana M.K. Sanneh described the day as a celebration of perseverance and progress. He recalled that only a few years ago, the school was “rich in spirit but poor in human resources,” with classrooms staffed by teachers lacking proper qualifications. “Today, the school boasts 100% qualified staff, with 12 graduates among its 20 teachers up from just four in 2017.”
The principal highlighted outstanding results in the last WAEC exams, with two top students scoring 9 and 8 credits respectively earning government scholarships to the University of The Gambia. He said school enrolment had also risen from 417 in 2024 to 453 in 2025.
Sanneh listed key infrastructural improvements, including a state-of-the-art computer lab, a fully functional library, repairs of staff quarters, and a secured orchard fence. He hailed the establishment of the school’s first Science Department, which allows students to pursue science studies locally instead of travelling to Kombos.
However, he stressed the urgent need for fully-equipped science labs, more classrooms, and technical and vocational training facilities. He warns that overcrowded classrooms and inadequate practical facilities limit students’ potential in an increasingly technology-driven world.
Sanneh also offered graduates six life lessons: hard work, patience, sacrifice, discipline, consistency, and self-confidence.
Other speakers included Lamin Jawneh, representing the School Board, who reaffirmed the board’s commitment to quality education. Chief Alpha Mariam Khan of Jokadou, also urged graduates to be role models and reject hate speech and division.
