Margibi County – The Kakata Rural Teacher Training Institute (KRTTI) in Margibi County on December 16 graduated 91 teachers out of its first B-Certificate pilot program in almost 15 years.
It is the first B-certificate teachers’ training program since the end of the second phase of Liberia’s civil war in 2003.
The program was basically established to professionally train junior secondary school teachers for two academic years and subsequently placed them in schools across the country, said Nuwoe Kellen, Coordinator of the B-Certificate Program at KRTTI.
He spoke Saturday, December 16, at the graduation ceremony.
“The B-Certificate Program existed before but was shut down due to the civil unrest in Liberia. Later, it was reactivated after a partnership agreement between the Government of Liberia (GOL) and the European Union (EU),” Mr. Kellen said.
The European Union provided technical assistance by hiring subject consultants and a curriculum was designed by them and the local team.”
“Validation of the curriculum was done by various stakeholders in November of 2005 and a team was then setup to manage the program at the Kakata Rural Teacher Training Institute”.
He said the B-Certificate pilot program was launched in April 2016 after 100 in-service teachers from all the counties participated in the project and since then the government continues to sponsor the program.
Trainees including 25 females and 75 males were trained in Mathematics, Natural Science, Social Science and Language Arts, he said.
“25 trainees were initially placed in each of the four core subject areas and they were offered pedagogy and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) courses to enhance their teaching skills,” he said.
Kellen praised staffs of the program for their cooperation and “diligent efforts” for the successful completion of the program.
During the program, he also honored some staffs for their exceptional performance.
Shadrach Y. Kerl, Director of KRTTI, praised the Ministry of Education and partners for supporting the program.
Mr. Kerl said stakeholders in the educational sector must validate the curriculum to determine the continuation of the program and subsequent implementation at other teacher training Institutions across the country.
“As we speak, this class is called a special class because it is a class of the pilot phase of this whole program. “
“This is a proud symbol of the Liberian people today that we’re closing the gap between primary and secondary schools that has been open all this time and we want to officially declare this program open for continuation,” he said.
Dr. Romelle A. Horton, Deputy Minister for Instructions at the Ministry of Education, expressed confidence in the new graduates and stressed government’s commitment to having more professionally trained teachers in the school system.
Horton said the government in partnership with the European Union has secured the needed funding to continue the sustainability of the B-Certificate program at KRTTI.
Report by Yawah Jaivey in Kakata, FPA Contributor
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