Starting with using examples of schools that performed well in the West African Examination Council as a guiding light for building a better tomorrow
MUCH HAS BEEN REPORTED in the past few years about how Liberia’s schoolkids are simply not good enough to make a passing grade.
THIS YEAR’S West African Examinations Council (WAEC) recorded its largest failure in the 2016 Senior High School category in four years with 22,671 out of 46,927 students who registered for the exams, failing.
THE FAILED STUDENTS constitute nearly half (48.46%) of the total number of students registered.
THE RESULTS HAVE BEEN disturbing in the past few years. For example, WAEC recorded its poorest results among senior high students since 2013. In 2013 with 7,884 failures (29.49%) out of 26,993 registered.
IN 2014, WAEC recorded 13,651 failures (49.37%) out of 27,881 registered.
BENEATH THE FAILURES however there have been some bright spots with seven schools in the country registering impressive passing grades.
TERESA’S CONVENT SCHOOL for example sent 64 students to sit the exams with every single one of them making the grade.
THE CHILD DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY in Sinkor Monrovia sent nine 12 graders, who all passed.
THE LIBERIAN – TURKISH LIGHT INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL sent 18 seniors, twelve girls and six boys, who all passed the exams.
IN SEPARATE INTERVIEWS with FrontPageAfrica, the schools which did well in the exams attributed their successes to hard work, discipline and intense studying and guidance. “The secret is hard studies and discipline, the students knew when to study and when to play and when to rest,” says Principal, Alper Erkan at the Turkish school. “They did not study only when there were exams, but they always studied and read regularly. We had extra WAEC classes on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and we would draw exams for them to get used to the exam style. We are very proud of our students; because when they go to university and do well, it is my school name will go.”
AT THE CDA, Principal Matilda George said hard study was the key. “Give the students enough assignment, quizzes and class work at all times, keep them busy. Since January, we had extra classes for them every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. And I monitored the teachers, students and parents to find out if a child came to class or not. And the school cannot do all, the parents have to help by making sure their children study regularly and do not leave it on the teachers alone to do it for your child.”
IF THESE EXAMPLES are working for some schools, why aren’t they working for others?
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT through the Ministry of Education needs to do now is take a sampling of the schools that did well in the WAEC and use their examples to motivate and prepare students in the coming year.
THE REPEATED ASSERTIONS THAT the education sector is a mess have run its course. It is time now for authorities to take stock of what they have been doing wrong; of what schools that are failing repeatedly have been doing wrong and take corrective measures to ensure that they can get better performances out of the students.
IT IS ONE THING to distribute text books and deploy teachers in some counties but if the students do not have the tools but instead, have to rush home after school to sell market just to help their parents put food on the table, then improvement of the sector will continue to remain a pipe dream with very little room for the wrongs to be made right.
THE SOLUTION TO FIXING the messy education sector lies in our government’s ability to dig deep into the frailties of the past few years and find the bright spots that could be used as a measuring guide for molding the minds of our future leaders.
AUTHORITIES AT ST. THERESA’S Convent, CDA and the Turkish school among others have explained how and why their students did well.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT needs to do now is to ensure that it pays special attention to schools that have been performing poorly and invest heavily in after-school programs. If possible, incentives should be set aside for parents struggling to make ends meet so that their young ones do not have to rush after school to sell market and walk the streets peddling goods.
WE STRONGLY BELIEVE that Liberian schoolkids are not as dumb or dull as these results suggest but many are victims of circumstances and situations.
SOCIETY HAS A WAY of neglecting its own. If the parents cannot provide for their kids because of prevailing economic conditions, the children will have no choice but to repeatedly do poorly.
WHAT THESE RESULTS have shown is that Liberia is in desperate need of an education revolution and a radical transformation of the sector. But the schools and the government cannot do this alone. Parents and communities can assist by setting up teams to help volunteer with after school programs and aid kids with their study.
EACH ONE, NEEDS ONE must be the centerpiece of our education revival with each and every Liberian rising to the aid of the other in need.
EDUCATION IS the bedrock of any nation. But if we fail to seize the moment now, we risk ruining the future of generations yet unborn as the illiteracy rate continue to climb and our kids remain ill-prepared and untested for the challenges ahead.
WE CAN START BY building on the success stories of those schools that are doing the right thing and taking the right steps to prepare their students for a better tomorrow.