Education in Liberia

"Dr. Benjamin Wehye, President of LICOSESS College of Education recently returned home from Zambia with his PhD earned in Education after five years of what he termed as “intensive online research based and solution development study,” accompanied by in-person seminars." What does he say about Liberia's well-known problems with education?

raised concerns about Liberia’s seriousness to break away from the 1860s educational philosophy which he said was centered around exclusively educating children of freed and repatriated slaves and neglecting back then, the native residents who laid the foundation for the country that is today known as Liberia. ...

Once a slave, the mindset becomes narrow and restricted to thinking that freedom is yet too far away. This is why they train their children in the same fashion, making them believe that a certain class of people does not deserve the opportunity to rise to certain levels.

Exactly what from the 1860's educational philosophy remains in the Liberian system today isn't specified. Nor is it clear what the limited educational opportunities a century ago (native tribes didn't get a lot of schools) has to do with all 25,000 applicants failing the entrance exam a few years ago: that's the descendants of the native tribes, of the "Congo" people, and of the Americos -- none passed.

If things are still pretty much as they were when I was there, problems include low salaries, unreliable payment of same, poor oversight, and low prestige for teachers--if you have an education, you want a better government job than mere teacher. There was also the problem of school fees that not all families could afford, though I gather there's been some effort to find the money in the budget to deal with that. (No doubt much will go astray.)

Rhetoric about historical offences seems unlikely to address those issues. For that matter, if this report about the LICOSESS Gbarnga school closing is a guide, the good Dr. Wehye has some housekeeping at home to take care of: "allegedly using course guides instead of a complete curriculum for its B-certificate program in Gbarnga".

If LICOSESS does what it's advertised to, that will help. They've graduated quite a few teachers already from several campuses--the important things are simple. Train teachers, and remember to pay them.