Aspiring electrical engineer whose inability to pay his tuition fee threatens his dream to continue his studies
By Mustapha Ceesay
At 27 years, Ebrima Kassama since childhood aspires to become an Electrical Engineer to contribute his quota to national development as expected of every one.
It is a dream that the young man is still very passionate about and working tirelessly to fulfilling the dream to be in the overall dress that the professionals wear at work.
The Electrical Engineer is so dear to Kassama’s heart that he kept on telling his comrades at a tender age.
“I want to be an Electrical Engineer. That is my passion, since I was young. I used to tell my friends that my dream is to become an Electrical Engineer. When I sat to my grade 9 exams [WAEC], I decided to follow a local electrician in the field work to learn the practical aspect,” he told this medium in an interview.
Ebrima later in 2020-2021 enrolled for the General Engineering Electrical Electronics certificate level 1 programme at the Gambia Technical Training Institute [GTTI], which he successfully completed and had the desire to proceed to level 2 to deepen his knowledge on the discipline.
“I completed my certificate 1 programme in 2020-2021 academic year. I am interested in pursuing my certificate 2, in the 2021-2022 academic year,” he said.
Driven by his love and passion to be the professional he so dear since child hood days, obtaining level 1 certificate, is not enough for the young Kassama. Then, he sought admission into level 2 in the Engineering Electrical Electronics programme at GTTI.
Based on his success in the previous level, he got an offer to proceed to level 2 for the 2021-2022 academic year.
The admission notice was conveyed to him in a letter dated 24th September 2021. In addition, the letter stated D14, 720 as the tuition fee for the programme; 75% of which ‘must’ be paid at a designated local bank, before he starts attending lectures.
The letter informed that failure of paying the 75% payment by the 31st January 2022 deadline would lead to the removal of the student from the programme.
However, both the 75% payment and the 31stJanuary 2022 deadline have threatened the 27-year old’s long-time dream due to the weak financial strength of his mother, his sole sponsor, also the breadwinner of his family.
“Due to the lack of financial support, I cannot proceed to the next level [level 2]. The challenge I am facing is lack of financial support which is making it difficult for me . I lost my father when I was in primary 5. I am living with my mother who is old and cannot meet the financial demands of my education. My mother has always been there for me. But now we are at a point where she can’t afford to pay that amount [D14, 720] of money because she alone takes care of the family issues,” the aspiring electrical engineer told this reporter.
He now appeals for financial support to continue his pursuit of education at the national technical institute to fulfil his dream of becoming an electronic engineer, saying ‘education is the only weapon to fight against poverty’.
“I am kindly appealing to everyone to kindly help me pay my tuition fee to be able to realise my dream to become an electrical electronic engineer in future; as you know education is the only weapon to fight against poverty,” he appealed.
Interested individual(s) or institution(s) can reach the young man on 341 0441 or 9707067 for any assistance.
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