The opening of the 2025-2026 academic year coincided with the fencing of Dobo Lower Basic School, my current school of postings. The school is fenced by MRC Holland Foundation.
As the Headteacher of the school, the first thing that came to my mind was how to secure seedlings of different species of trees and plant them in the school compound. At the moment, the school does not have adequate funds to purchase the required number of seedlings. Then, I started making consultations. Firstly, I had an SMC meeting and included the topic in the agenda. The meeting agreed that we write to the two gardens in the district which sell tree seedlings and request that they support the school with some seedlings, and also to engage the Alkalo of the village to make follow-ups for us. The meeting unanimously agreed that the Alkalo is very popular in the district.
Luckily, with the involvement of the Alkalo we succeeded in getting abundant seedlings. The first garden we wrote to gave us about fifty seedlings of different species. The second one asked us to find a transport and go to the garden and collect some seedlings. When we arrived at the second garden, the proprietor told us to take as many seedlings as we wish.
A few days later, the proprietor of the second garden visited the school to find out if we had planted seedlings or not. Fortunately, he found that we had transplanted most of the seedlings and provided each with a ring for protection. He was very excited and told me that if the school needs more seedlings let me not hesitate to contact him again. So, he gave me his phone number.
In a nutshell, stakeholder engagement is key in school improvement. if I had not involved different stakeholders, the school's problem was not going to be solved. At the moment, we have some remaining seedlings that we can offer to any other school that needs them.
Kind regards!
Amadou Jallow