Photo: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leymah-Roberta-Gbowee/261358187236905?fref=ts A prominent Liberian, Madam Leymah Gbowee, has criticized Liberia's Education System, terming it as "poor". Madam Gbowee, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, asserted that the education system of Liberia is appalling as compared to other countries across the African Continent.
Madam Gbowee, President Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the Norwegian capital, Oslo in 2011. She made these comments on Friday, June 14, 2013 at a news conference held at the head offices of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa in Congo Town, outside Monrovia.
This is not the first time a prominent Liberian has criticized Liberia's education system. It could be recalled that several months ago, President Johnson-Sirleaf heavily criticized the country's education system, describing it as a "mess." Among other things, she called for the complete overhaul of the education system in order to meet present day reality.
Speaking further at the news conference, the President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa averred that Liberian students sent out of the country for studies cannot compete with their counterparts due to the poor education acquired in their own country.
She observed that the transformation of education in Liberia "remains a serious challenge to the growth and development of the Liberian society." If the young people must take over the mantle of leadership in Liberia, she pointed out; the educational sector must be transformed so that they (young people) can acquire quality and sound education.
However, Madam Gbowee recommended that the government overhaul the Ministry of Education in an effort to improve the sector.
The 2011 Nobel Laureate stated that the formulation of "policy papers" and the holding of what she called "big conferences" will not help to improve the education system in Liberia. The prominent Liberian indicated that appropriate "structures and mechanisms" must be put into place to transform the sector.
She said education authorities must thoroughly review the various curriculums and constructively engage students in order to move the education system of the country forward. At the same time, the President of the Gbowee Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa has disclosed that her organization currently has twenty-one foreign scholarships for potential female students in Liberia.
But Madam Gbowee said finding students with the required grade point average to benefit from these scholarships remains a challenge, something she blamed on the education system. She further disclosed that fifty Liberians students are presently benefiting from the foundation's scholarship both locally and internationally.
"When we started this foundation about a year ago, we taught that it would be difficult for us to get scholarships, but this is not a problem. What's the problem is filling in these scholarships. Liberia education system is very poor and most of the time we sent our scholars out, we recommend the best. Divisions one and two in WAEC are the standards for best students. We think that transforming education is a serious challenge to the growth and development of this nation. Until Liberia can get to the place where our education system is on par with places like Ghana not even talking about out of the sub-region; we have a serious problem," she stated.
Madam Gbowee added: "If we are talking about the next generation taking over the leadership of this country, I think we need to overhaul the entire education system. One recommendation to government is to overhaul the Ministry of Education and put in technocrats and competent people who will do the job. We need to do foot and hand works in getting the job done. We need to review our curriculum and engage the students. Until we can do these things, policy papers or big conferences will not take us there."
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