By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
FISH TOWN, Liberia- The latest overall satisfactory performance by Liberian 12th grade students in the 2020 WASSCE exams is a general sign of improvement in Liberia’s education system, but there is still quite a lot of work to be done to improve conditions of public schools, especially in rural Liberia.
Ranging from dilapidated school buildings, lack of chairs with many students sitting on bricks/chairs to lack of teachers, the plight of the Chea Cheapoo Elementary and Junior High School in Kiteabo, River Gbeh speaks volume of the level of backwardness of the education system over 517 kilometers from Monrovia.
This can be seen in surrounding towns and villages, where many school age children are out of school, existing school buildings are in deplorable condition with teachers in short supply; where they are available, the qualified ones in very short supply.
With schools in the country on the verge of reopening, students and faculty of the Chea Cheapoo elementary and junior high school are losing hope, they say, with their school building damaged by violent rainstorm some time ago still being left unattended.
For the one with good structure such as the Webbo public high school in Webbo Kronowroken, there is a serious lack of teachers, something that has hugely contributed to mass failure of students in WASSCE exams. From the liberal arts to the sciences, there is a serious deficit of qualified teachers in various disciplines.
But recently, the Education Ministry said it was about to begin hiring hundreds of teachers to be deployed in public schools across the country.
Even in the River Gee County capital, Fish Town, the Tweh Jaiklay high school is also yet to be reroofed, ever since the building was hit by a violent rainstorm back in 2017. The Liberian government through the Education Ministry is yet to extend any hand of assistance to renovate the damaged school building, despite numerous communication sent to them.
Information gathered by www.newspublictrust.com show that the County authorities show that the only public high school in Fish Town also lacks library and science laboratory and the worst of all, one teacher teaching all subjects and several classes.
This high school of hundreds of students has only twelve teachers, two of whom were recently pensioned, thereby creating further vacuum. Imagine one having only one Physic teacher to teach all .school.
People considered volunteer teachers in River Gee and other rural parts are yet to be placed on payroll and parents have to collect 1,000 Liberian Dollars to provide stipend for them.
Liberia’s Education Minister Prof. D. Ansu Sonii promised the distribution of thousands of armchairs to public schools but students of River Gee County, with high anticipation by both students and faculty in the area.
Until the supply of the chairs can come to fruition, many students in River Gee and other rural parts are still sitting on bricks and some of the bare ground in this 21th Century in Liberia.