The Education Advocacy Coalition recently concluded a meeting with lawmakers to rally for an increase in the national educational budget from 16.3 percent to 20 percent.
The coalition, consisting of organizations including UMovement, Integrity Watch, Institute for Democratic Africa and Development, IREDD, and YOCEL, funded by USAID through the Civil Society Activity (CSA), aimed to push for an additional 3.7 percent in the educational budget.
The proposed budget increase, from US$105,957,481 to US$129,975,393, is intended to lead to various improvements in the education sector. These include the onboarding of 6,000 teachers onto the Government's payroll (2 per school), provision of school supplies to 2,813 schools (US$2,600 per school), and upgrading school facilities for 2,813 schools ($1,298.7 per school).
The meeting was attended by several key figures, including Gbehzohngar Milton Findley, Grand Bassa County Senator; Moima Briggs Mensah, Bong County Electoral District #6 Representative; Senator Francis Dopoh, River Gee; and House of Representatives co-chair committee on education, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Education.
Senator Findley expressed concerns about the quality of education post-increment, emphasizing the need for advocacy for better educational standards. He highlighted challenges such as a lack of qualified teachers in certain areas, leading to inadequate education delivery.
"Advocating for increment is good, but you must also emphasize quality, especially quality teachers, and classrooms," Findley said. "We have a complex situation where even with the 20 percent, you still have challenges. You have to train teachers. There are some villages where you have ninth graders teaching sixth grade."
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He added that many of the villages lack qualified teachers to teach students, which sometimes results in classes being empty. He urged the Ministry of Education to work with the executives to ensure that more funds are allocated to the budget.
Liberia faces issues with limited resources allocated to the educational sector, resulting in challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, insufficient teachers, and poor learning conditions for students.
The groups suggested solutions such as centralized procurement with transparency measures and establishing efficient distribution systems to address these challenges.
The lawmakers, including Representative Moima Briggs Mensah, committed to working towards achieving the 20 percent budget allocation. They acknowledged the importance of improving the education sector and pledged to collaborate with their colleagues to make this goal a reality.
