The Ministry of Education has acted in the St. Theresa Convent case. A fine has been imposed. A nationwide ban has been issued. Disciplinary proceedings have been ordered. Enforcement has finally followed controversy.
That is how safeguarding is supposed to work.
But one case resolved does not equal a system repaired. If this moment is to mean anything, it must mark the beginning of consistency -- not an isolated show of firmness.
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Under Liberia's education laws, schools carry a legal duty of care. That duty is not ceremonial language tucked inside policy documents. It means that administrators must protect students from physical harm, emotional harm, and moral harm. It means supervision is not symbolic. It means guest performers are vetted. It means when something goes wrong, accountability follows.
The Ministry's action signals that those standards are enforceable. That is welcome.
Yet we must ask the harder question: has this level of urgency been the norm in other cases involving children?
Liberians know the answer.
When cases of rape, child molestation, and exploitation surface, what is the pattern? Too often, there is public outrage, then procedural delay. A committee is announced. An investigation is promised. Statements are drafted. Meanwhile, victims and families wait -- sometimes for years -- for cases to move through police stations, courts, and ministries.
There have been widely reported instances of minors assaulted in communities and even within school environments where the response has felt slow and fragmented. In some cases, arrests were delayed. In others, investigations stalled. At times, families complained of pressure to "settle quietly." Even where the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection spoke firmly and law enforcement initiated action, coordination gaps and court backlogs diluted the impact.
That is the deeper concern. Not whether one school was fined. Not whether one artist was banned. But whether child protection in Liberia operates with reflexive urgency -- or episodic seriousness.
When harm touches a child, the system should move as if its own future were under threat. Because it is.
Liberia is a young nation demographically. Its greatest asset is not iron ore or timber; it is its children. If institutions charged with protecting them move cautiously, bureaucratically, or selectively, the cost is not just reputational. It is generational.
The recent enforcement action shows that decisive measures are possible. The Ministry of Education moved from verification to sanction. The Ministry of Gender condemned the breach clearly. The artist accepted the penalty. The PTA engaged in structured reflection. These are healthy signs.
But safeguarding cannot depend on viral videos.
The rule must be that whenever child safety laws intersect -- whether in schools, churches, sports grounds, homes, or online spaces -- all relevant ministries and agencies move with intentional urgency. The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Gender, law enforcement, county education offices, prosecutors, and even social welfare officers must operate not as separate desks, but as a coordinated shield.
That shield must be active, not reactive.
It should not take public debate to trigger enforcement. It should not take outrage to produce coordination. It should not take embarrassment to provoke action.
And entertainers, schools, parents, and institutions must understand that safeguarding is not about avoiding scandal. It is about preventing harm. When minors push boundaries -- as minors naturally do -- adults must hold the line. When allegations arise, authorities must respond swiftly. When breaches are proven, sanctions must follow predictably.
There is also a cultural lesson here. Too often, when cases involving children arise, attention shifts to image management -- protecting reputations, calming public discourse, managing optics. But dignity is not protected by silence. It is protected by accountability.
If the same energy applied in this enforcement case were consistently applied to reports of sexual violence against minors, trafficking concerns, and exploitation allegations, Liberia would send a powerful signal: that child safety is not negotiable.
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"Not the exception but the rule" means exactly that. It means urgency is standard operating procedure. It means coordination is automatic. It means no ministry waits for another to move first. It means no agency hides behind procedure when a child's wellbeing is at stake.
It also means leadership must cultivate a mindset of guardianship -- jealously guarding Liberia's future as though these children were their own belly-born sons and daughters. When officials sign enforcement letters, attend investigative meetings, or file criminal charges, they must feel the weight of that responsibility personally.
The fine and ban in this case are steps forward. But the real measure of progress will be what happens next time -- and the time after that -- when no cameras are rolling.
Children deserve a system that moves quickly, speaks clearly, and acts firmly every single time. Enforcement is welcome. Consistency must now follow.
