By Moses M. Tokpah,mosesmtokpah@gmail.com
KAKATA, Liberia- A Liberian-born American and a Councilman of Brooklyn Park Minnesota, USA Wynfred Russell has stressed the need to standardize Technical Vocational Education (TVET) in Liberia.
According to him, if Liberia must improve its national development then it needs to standardize her technical vocational education by taking all vocational schools in the Country to the level the Booker T. Washington Institute (BWI) is and take BWI to another level.
Councilman Russell made the statement at a program marking the 68th graduation exercises of the Booker T. Washington Institute in Kakata, Margibi County, 72 kilometers from Monrovia over the weekend.
He noted that the lack of sustainable technical and vocational educational policies is a major factor in the shortage of industrial manpower especially trained vocational teachers in the Country.
Mr. Russell called on the government to invest more in ensuring that BWI becomes and continues to be the number one institute not just in Liberia, but in West Africa where one can get technical vocational training.
He explained that BWI has a great value and the value of technical education is increasingly being recognized by governments around the World. He intoned that Germany is one of the World leading Countries in technical vocational education thus expressing the need for the Liberian Government to work with its foreign partners such as the GIZ among others and at the same time urged the Government not to only relax on the development partners to do all of the heavy lifting and should rather do its part.
Despite the abundance of natural resources in Liberia, Mr. Russel said poverty remains prevalent in the country, while youth and young adults are still faced with intergenerational poverty which leads them to all kinds of illegal activities and drugs.
He said poverty could be reduced when vocational technical education programs are well funded which will invariably develop the nation, but stated that vocational education itself does not create jobs as such; it is important that government authorities and lawmakers put in place the right policies and conditions to stimulate economic development.
Mr. Russell further proffered five recommendations that the government must implement to combat the scourge of poverty in Liberia and develop the nation’s workforce.
The government must review vocational education policy to strengthen national development, transform BWI into a full-fledged technical college, integrate vocational and technical training programs into general education and facilitate nationally certified training in small business enterprises, the Liberian-born American suggested.
Moreover, the Brooklyn Park USA Councilman recommended that the government must ensure that vocational education is more market driven as it is imperative that the government involves organizations in the formulation of the curricula and in the certification of skills offered.
Mr. Russell also said the government must invest in modernizing BWI’s laboratories and infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Mr. Russell has disclosed that he is working on a potential partnership between BWI and Hennepin Technical College in Minnesota for a student and faculty exchange program which will eventually lead to BWI becoming a full-fledged technical college.
He has on the other hand encouraged the graduates never to loss the will to learn as they are ready to turn their hard work and dreams into reality.
Mr. Wynfred Russell told the graduates that they have reached one goal by earning their diplomats or certificates but cautioned them to remember that it is an intermediate goal that has prepared them to take another step forward.
“I hope it is something you keep in mind as you walk across the stage today that gratification that comes with helping someone finds their path for making yourself useful not just to yourself, but to society” he said.
He told them that they haven’t just earned new opportunities with the diplomat, but they have also earned responsibilities along with it.