AUNTIE SATANG JOW, OTHERS CELEBRATED ON WORLD TEACHERS’ DAY

By Our Education Desk

Veteran educationist, former Gambia High School principal and former Minister of Education Satang Jow has been celebrated alongside generations of Gambian teachers as the world marked World Teachers’ Day on Monday, 5 October 2026.

For many Gambians, few names better represent a lifetime devoted to education than Auntie Satang Jow.

Before she became a cabinet minister, Jow had already spent decades in the classroom, helping to educate generations of young Gambians and contributing to the development of one of the country’s most prominent secondary schools.

Born in Banjul on 31 August 1943, Jow attended St Joseph’s School and Gambia High School before proceeding to Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1966. She later obtained a postgraduate qualification in education from the Institute of Education, University of London.

Her professional career became deeply intertwined with Gambia High School. She taught at the institution from 1966 until 1994 and served as principal from 1989 to 1994.

Former students have continued to remember the quality of teaching provided by Jow and her contemporaries. One published recollection of Gambia High School described Satang Jow and her late husband, Charles Jow, as teachers who taught History and English with distinction and helped shape both the intellectual development and character of their students.

Her contribution, however, extended well beyond the classroom.

Following her years at Gambia High School, Jow served at the highest level of national education administration, becoming Secretary of State for Education and later holding responsibility for Youth, Culture and Sports before returning to the education portfolio.

One of the most significant chapters of her public-service career was her involvement in the early development of university education in The Gambia.

Historical accounts credit Jow’s tenure at the Ministry of Education with the establishment of a University Commission, which helped pave the way for the creation of the University of The Gambia in 1999.

Her role also came at a time when efforts were being made to expand access to university-level education locally. Educationist and development worker Burris Devanney presented an initiative for a university degree programme to Jow while she was Education Minister in 1994. The proposal subsequently received government approval and formed part of the broader movement towards university education in The Gambia.

Jow’s contribution to education has also been closely associated with the advancement of girls and women.

She became the first president of the Gambian chapter of the Forum for African Women Educationalists, FAWE, and has over the years been associated with efforts to expand educational opportunities for girls. Her family has also spoken publicly about her personal commitment to helping children who struggled to finance their education or needed encouragement to remain in school.

That commitment has continued to define how many former students and colleagues remember her.

In August, when she celebrated her 83rd birthday, tributes described her as a pioneering Gambian educationist whose influence stretched across generations. Her son, Yusupha Jow, recalled not only her sacrifices as a mother but also the assistance she provided to young people, particularly girls, in pursuing their education.

Her public service also reached beyond The Gambia. Jow later served as a commissioner on Sierra Leone’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission between 2002 and 2004, adding another dimension to a career devoted to education, public responsibility and national service.

She was also involved in educational bodies including the Gambian committee of the West African Examinations Council and scholarship-related work, demonstrating a professional life that went far beyond political office.

Her place in Gambian education history is therefore not based simply on the titles she held.

It rests on decades of teaching, school leadership, educational administration, advocacy for girls’ education and participation in reforms that helped widen the country’s educational landscape.

As World Teachers’ Day was observed this year, Auntie Satang Jow represented the kind of teacher whose influence cannot be measured only by the number of years spent in a classroom. It can also be measured through the students taught, institutions strengthened, opportunities created and generations inspired.

The 2026 World Teachers’ Day carried the international theme, “Standing with teachers: 60 years of protecting the profession, advancing its status and shaping our futures.”

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, the landmark international instrument addressing teachers’ rights, responsibilities, preparation, employment and working conditions.

UNESCO says the occasion is intended not only to celebrate teachers but also to draw attention to the pressures facing the profession, including inadequate recognition, difficult working environments, workloads, technological change, inclusion and the effects of migration and displacement.

New UNESCO figures released for World Teachers’ Day indicate that the world currently has approximately 107 million teachers but will require another 50 million by 2030 to achieve universal pre-primary, primary and secondary education.

For The Gambia, the occasion provides an opportunity to remember the thousands of teachers, past and present, who have spent their lives building the country’s human capital, often without public recognition.

They include retired teachers whose former students now occupy leadership positions, educators working in remote communities, classroom teachers managing difficult conditions, head teachers providing institutional leadership and young teachers beginning careers in a profession upon which virtually every other profession depends.

Doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists, soldiers, civil servants, entrepreneurs, academics and political leaders all begin, in one way or another, in the hands of a teacher.

World Teachers’ Day therefore belongs not only to internationally known educators or former ministers, but to every teacher who has stood before a classroom and accepted responsibility for shaping another human being.

Yet there is particular value in remembering educators such as Satang Jow while they are still among us.

Her journey from the classroom at Gambia High School to the principal’s office and eventually to national education leadership represents an important chapter in the history of Gambian education.

More than six decades after beginning her professional career, her legacy remains connected to an enduring idea: that education is not merely about examinations and certificates, but about creating opportunities and preparing succeeding generations to contribute meaningfully to society.

On World Teachers’ Day, The Gambia celebrates Auntie Satang Jow and all the country’s teachers, past and present, whose chalk, pens, patience, discipline and sacrifice helped build the nation.

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