Monrovia – The executive director of Kids Educational Engagement Project (KEEP) Brenda B. Moore says education and enlightened minds can both change Liberia by taking the citizens out of abject poverty.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
Mrs. Moore made the statement over the weekend in Monrovia during the 2nd Spousal Meeting Program organized by KEEP with funding from Open Society Initiative in West Africa (OSIWA).
“With strong education, our people are able to analyze things, ask better questions, and make good decisions for the country. We believe that focusing on education and enlightening citizens’ minds can change the country to take the citizens from abject poverty,” Mrs. Moore said.
She called on teachers, students and parents to get involved with reading to end the poor education problem in the country.
Mrs. Moore said that Liberians can change the negative narrative about the country’s education system, “if we all get involve as education is everyone business.”
She said that part of KEEP activities is to encourage the culture of reading among students through the establishment of reading rooms to sustain changes in the education sector.
As such, she said that KEEP remains hopeful to see better Liberia, but through a strong education foundation for everyone, because education has over the years been used “only as a political tool.”
The spousal meeting brings together women, their husbands and school authorities to share their experiences over the last nine months while monitoring school activities.
KEEP has trained 150 women in four counties to monitor what they considered as “corruption” within the various schools, and communities, and how the act of corruption would be addressed without government’s intervention.
The program targets women in rural areas to monitor school activities and in the communities as well.
District Education Officer of Greater Montserrado County Mrs. Lucia T. Paygai, expressed gratitude to see women being part of their children’s education and providing an update about activities on various school campuses.
Mrs. Paygai attributed many of the country’s woes to lack of education.
“I am hopeful of Liberians becoming successful in the years ahead through strong education because it is through sound and quality education a nation can progress,” she said.
Mrs. Paygai lauded Mrs. Moore for the initiative and committed working with the organization in the area of school monitoring activities.
The principal of Goba Town Public School, Abraham Fedrick, called on the parents to be more engaged with their children’s education by helping to expose any suspected unwholesome behavior on school campuses.
“Even though we will not be aware of every activity on those campuses as the school administrators, constant monitoring of the students and other activities will help to make the future better for the children and the country,” Mr. Fedrick said.
He added, “do not comprise any suspected ugly behavior you will observe on school campuses while monitoring your children and school administrators, because we have to do the right thing by giving the children good future.”
At the exchange of field experiences sharing, women highlighted some of the ugly behaviors of their children, including escaping from classes before school let out time, and also some of the teachers, too, being in the habit of taking money from students to give them passing grades.
The women suspected that some of the parents too were at fault by giving money to teachers and school authorities to promote their children, who have failed at the end of the academic year.
The program brought to together participants from Todee, Morris Farm, Gbengbar Town, Goba Town.
KEEP was founded in 2014, during the height of the Ebola outbreak to encourage people to read, especially the students.