By Sainabou Sambou
A bold new chapter in The Gambia’s education story opened on Monday as education advocates unveiled the “Read Gambian Intertone Competition,” a nationwide reading marathon designed to ignite a love for books among youth, close stark gender gaps in literacy, and position the country for a future Guinness World Record attempt.
Speaking at a press conference at the Senegambia hotel, lead organiser Modou Lamin Age-Almusaf Sowe declared that while The Gambia boasts progressive education policies and receives global praise for peace and hospitality, its reading culture has been left behind.
“We are doing extremely well through the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education,” Sowe told journalists, “but when it comes to reading and literacy, the country is lagging. This competition is our way of complementing government efforts.”
The initiative directly targets Nigeria’s current Guinness World Record for the longest reading marathon, held by a team of citizens whose names are immortalized in the record book. “The Gambia has never participated in anything like this,” Sowe noted. “We want Gambian names in that book one day.”
Open to youths aged 16–30, the annual competition has already secured participation pledges from 32 institutions, ranging from senior secondary schools to universities, vocational centres, and special-needs facilities. Organisers say the event will also address the country’s troubling literacy statistics: UNESCO data indicate an overall literacy rate of just 60%, with men at 75% and women at 50%.
“This huge gender gap, combined with poverty that forces families to choose food over books, is holding us back,” Sowe stressed. He highlighted persistent weak national performance in English-language exams between 2015 and 2022, despite pockets of individual brilliance.
Jamilatou Jallow, Secretary General of the newly formed Read Gambia Foundation, announced that the inaugural event will take place on December 1, 2025, at Motherland, starting at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are now on sale to ensure the competition’s long-term sustainability.
“Invitations have gone out to Gambia High School, Nusrat, Methodist Academy, St. Peter’s, the Ministries of Education and Youth and Sports, the U.S. Embassy, Africell, and many dignitaries,” Jallow said. “This is the first time such an ambitious reading initiative is happening here. We want our students to shine this year so that, come 2026, The Gambia can challenge the world for the record.”
