PHOTO: Anthony Mulbah Jallah
By Moses M. Tokpah, mosesmtokpah@gmail.com
For allegedly failing to provide subsidies to schools in Liberia especially private and faith-based schools, a long serving private school administrator in Kakata City, Margibi County says the powers of the government of Liberia are impotent.
Mr. Anthony Mulbah Jallah, Principal of the Kakata Community College (KCC) and President of the National Principal Association Margibi branch made the statement recently, when he appeared on a local radio talk-show, “Sunrise Margibi” on the Voice of Margibi in Kakata.
Mr. Jallah said the government carries on monitoring and supervision of schools in Liberia, but it is finding it difficult to supervise or dictate the kinds of fees that should be collected at the various schools because its powers are impotent.
“Their powers are impotent, the government is very impotent because they are just not putting in, so it will become a problem,” Mr. Jallah asserted.
The Liberian educator noted that government will give the loudest orders that will never be adhered to because in as much as it is not subsidizing the private schools, her orders will be like blowing their own horn and they can’t achieve any positivity.
According to Mr. Jallah, the government has failed to realize that the provision for education to every Liberian child is her responsibility.
“Firstly, our government has failed to realize that the provision for education to every Liberian child is her responsibility, evidence by the fact that almost for the past five or six years we haven’t received school supply as cheap as chalks are, and sheets are, they have not been provided,” he explained.
The Liberian educator who explained that he is carrying out supervision and having interaction with principals of government schools averred that even the quantity of supply that supposed to be provided to government schools is not forthcoming.
Additionally, Mr. Jallah said since the Weah-led government took over, instructional materials such as text books are not forthcoming.
The Principal of the Kakata Community College revealed that textbooks were being provided in the past even though the quantity supplied to private and public schools were not the same as in his words ‘public schools were always given the lion share of it while private schools were given lesser quantities’.
Mr. Jallah indicated that the biggest thing that the government continues to maintain is at least few of the private schools are provided government assign teachers noting that government is doing well in that aspect and it worth commending.
The Liberian educator furthered said that they still need to work together in order for government to take her responsibility to provide education to all Liberian children, noting that right now government is only providing education to 30-35% of Liberian children through the government schools.
There are just few functional government schools while the rest are faith-based, private and community schools that are fully resting on the shoulders of the proprietors and community members, among others, the Liberian educator noted.
Mr. Jallah also attributed the reported failure of the government to subsidize schools in the country to being insensitive to the plat of the Liberian people arguing that if government takes the provision of education to be her responsibility, she will subsidize educational institutions.
“But they have not taken that to be their responsibility, so they say the private schools are making business so in fact they can’t help the private schools,” he argued.
According to Mr. Jallah, few private schools that have been subsidized by government it had been done selectively, adding that they look at some of the schools that are run by big churches on grounds that some of their members are in government.
In a related development, the Kakata Community College Principal said there is no academic uniformity when it comes to the opening of schools for academic 2023/2024 in Liberia.
It is expected that all grade schools should have started classes on the 4th of September, but there are some schools that will be starting on the 2nd of October, he said.
Mr. Jallah intimated that the issue of uniformity is completely erased and there will be an issue of going in compliance with the academic calendar as some schools will condense the lessons at the end of the day some will have side effect on the students on grounds that they will be the ones to pay for it, he added.
Meanwhile, the Liberian educator has expressed the hope that looking at the existing reality the Ministry of Education can make an adjustment in order to have an amended version of the academic calendar because according to him, right now people will not go by the previous calendar.