Monrovia — Scores of Liberia women and men on March 3, 2023, commemorated International Women's Day, a day set aside by the United Nations to celebrate women's achievements and raise awareness about gender inequality and increase support for women globally.
Even though an early celebration before the recognized March 8, women from diverse backgrounds gathered to pay homage to Liberian Women that are breaking the glass ceiling and also to men supporting them.
This year's International Women's Day is celebrated under the global theme: "DigitAAL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality" with a local theme, "Innovating with Technology to promote Gender Equality" a theme that sits right within the Bridge Liberia's teaching model, ensuring teachers use technology in the classroom as a teaching tool.
This model of teaching and learning by the Liberian Government's technical partner Bridge Liberia, has made teaching easier and more interesting for women teachers who take on other responsibilities before and after school hours.
The teacher tablets are loaded with detailed lesson plans and instructions for teachers to deliver to students daily while feeding back to school supervisors to track the teacher's activity and attendance and ensure they are sticking to the lesson plans.
Teaching, which is considered one of the most important professions in the world, comes with so many challenges, especially for women teachers, who are caught between family caregiving and their profession.
Kweabe A. Tobgah a teacher from Dwazon Public School explains how she now has more time to take care of her children and run other errands to help her family.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"Instead of sitting at home for long hours after school to plan lessons and do additional research, like I used to do before, with this teaching technology I now have more time to do a small business to support my family with additional income, because the lessons are already planned. We now focus on delivery and presentation."
Christiana David from the Intouch Public School further revealed that the teaching technology has made her profession more interesting, because it is not only easier, it is also fun to be in the classroom.
This milestone achievement in the education sector has not only improved test scores and learning for students, but it is also contributing to the performance of women teachers in the classrooms at Bridge Liberia supported schools.
The Liberian Government in 2016, began a revolution to fix the country's education system which was broken as the result of several years of conflict. One of those steps was the introduction of the Liberian Education Advancement Program (LEAP). The LEAP Program currently has four education providers with Bridge Liberia being the biggest technical partner in the program.
LEAP is delivering tuition-free primary education throughout Liberia from early childhood education through grade nine and improving learning gains for students in government schools
Women teachers stand at 25% of the total teachers in government schools supported by Bridge Liberia.
These women indeed understand that technology is vital for gender equality and empowerment, which is why they appreciate the use of teaching technology in the classrooms.
