Abstract

This paper critically assesses The Gambia’s New Education Policy (2004–2015), and by extension the Education Sector Strategic Plan (2006–2015). It is argued that The Gambia’s current political and economic environments are not conducive to meeting these policy goals, and in fact, undermine them. We propose that a critical holistic educational pedagogy predicated on democratic foundations offers the best hope for realizing the goals of “Vision 2020,” and the New Education Policy. The paper begins in section one with a backdrop of Gambia’s political development, and in section two, we briefly discuss education, past and present. In the third and fourth sections, post-coup education policy and the New Education Policy are analyzed, respectively. Post-coup economics and “Vision 2020,” along with the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are analyzed in sections five and six, respectively. In section seven, we propose a critical holistic educational model that is the crux of the paper and bring into sharper focus aspects of the New Education Policy. It is divided into several sub-sections, which spell out components of the model: (a) socio-cultural (b) economic growth and development, (c) distributive/social justice, and (d) political democracy. The paper concludes with our final thoughts in section eight.