14 March 2008
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has described as laudable efforts by United States Senator Connie Hess Williams to contribute resources to the building of a school for Liberian children.
The school, currently called Gbenwein Public School in Marshall Territory, Margibi County, will be rebuilt under the auspices of the Liberia Education Trust (LET). According to an Executive Mansion release, the President spoke Monday when she and the US congresswoman toured the Gbenwein Public School.
The Liberian leader said Liberian children should count themselves lucky to be benefiting from such a humanitarian gesture. On behalf of the children and people of Liberia, the President expressed appreciation to the Pennsylvanian Senator and her family.
The Liberian leader is the brainchild of the Liberian Education Trust (LET) which solicits funding through philanthropists and other private organizations abroad. LET has as its primary objective the construction of 50 schools and the training of five hundred (500) teachers.
The organization is also striving to provide five-thousand scholarships for girls over a three year period. 18 local schools have been constructed in the country under the program while over one-thousand students have been awarded scholarships.
Senator Connie Hess Williams said she was happy to contribute a school to Liberian children. The school, the US congresswomen disclosed, will be named in honor of her late father, Mr. Leon Hess, whom she described as an educator who had a passion for education.
Gbenwein Public School has a current enrollment of 670 students with a ratio of 65% boys and 35% girls. It has a morning session which runs kindergarten to the 3rd grade and a night session running 4th to 9th grade.
The cost of the project is put at approximately US$57,000. The construction of a school grew out of an appeal to President Johnson Sirleaf by residents of the area, then known as Joblo Town during a visit to the area last year by the President.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Analyst. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
