Schools Around the World: Liberia
George Osodi/AP
School children prepare for the day school in Voinjama town, Liberia, Monday, Feb. 18, 2008.
With a new administration in office, there has been a renewed focus on public education in the United States. Teachers and schools are under the microscope, and the news is full of stories on new education initiatives around the country.
But what’s going on in public education in the rest of the world? We start by taking a look at Liberia.
Samuel Doe led a military coup in the country in 1980, the start of a decade of authoritarian rule. In 1989, Charles Taylor organized a rebellion against Doe and his regime, resulting in civil war. After 14 years of war, Taylor resigned and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president through democratic elections in 2005.
The education system in Liberia was destroyed during the country’s civil war. In a 2007 press release, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) explained that a 2003-2004 Liberian Ministry of Education (MOE/UNICEF) study found that 20 percent of schools in Liberia had been destroyed. Many education professionals left the country during the conflict, leaving behind teachers without formal training or qualifications. According to USAID, unqualified teachers have resulted in reduced enrollment.
But as Kevin S. Tydehson wrote for Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), the situation is more complex. Overcrowding in Liberia’s public schools is to blame, he says, along with poverty. “[M]any students are seen every day roaming the streets selling for their parents as bread winners,” he writes. According to Tydehson, both parents and teachers agreed that if food were provided at school, this would be an added incentive to encourage parents to enroll their children in school.
Though enrollment rates had increased in 2007 by 24 percent for girls and 18 percent for boys, USAID stressed that far more had to be done to improve quality. The organization is working with the Liberian Ministry of Education to support planning, teacher training and materials acquisition.
In addition, the Liberian Education Trust, based in Washington, D.C., works “to support the restoration of basic education in Liberia.” The organization is a charitable trust that aims to gather American support to rebuild Liberia’s schools and train Liberia’s teachers. Learn more at the organization’s Web site.
