Applied Scholastics Liberia Trains Bong County Educators On Effective, Competency Based Learning

While acute crises such as COVID and Ebola have temporarily crippled Liberian development, the corrosion of educational standards and widespread illiteracy are the enduring plagues threatening life in the region. 

Confronting these stark realities and working from over 20 years of successful human rights and literacy programs in West Africa, Liberian Joseph Yarsiah, Nigerian Dr. Olatunde Odewumi and American lawyer Tim Bowles, under the auspices of Applied Scholastics International, have recently completed training of over 100 Bong County educators in competency-based instruction to enhance learning outcomes.  

“On the invitation of Chief Education Officer David Boakai, we undertook this year to train an initial 300 teachers selected from throughout the county,” Mr. Yarsiah said.  “We are heartened by the professed career-changing impact on these educators, including the first 100 in May and now the August contingent.  We will conclude the pilot with a final 100 in November.”

“Building teacher capacity with enhanced training is not only critical to serving our children today.  Effective education is also crucial for developing our nation for generations to come,” Mr. Boakai observed.  “We welcome Applied Scholastics as a willing partner in these undertakings.”

Mr. Bowles, a distinguished American attorney and International Director for Applied Scholastics, has worked in Liberia for over 20 years, instrumental in driving meaningful educational reforms across the region.

“Through its breakthrough achievements in many African countries and internationally, Applied Scholastics advances an effective solution to illiteracy through the learning methods of American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard,” Bowles explained. “Widely known Study Technology or ‘Study Tech,’ the methodology – one I discovered and used with success in the 1970s as a law student – directly addresses learning comprehension and application. Our African Literacy Campaign – training more than 1000 West African educators over the past decade – has enabled our participants to recover the full joy of learning and teaching for competent application.”

Professor Odewumi, a renowned Study Tech instructor, lead the Bong County program with Mr. Yarsiah, who ensured the sessions remained engaging, impactful, and results-driven.

“My motivation for educating teachers is this country’s long history,” Yarsiah observed,  “what it used to be and what it can become.  Pre-war, pre-1990, Liberia was one of the best nations on the continent for education, for literacy. We had many different African nationalities coming here to study.

“Sadly, because of the conflict, we lost both the educational infrastructure and the technological capacity needed to build a new generation. Most of our top minds left the country and the quality of education derailed.  Yet, we now see infrastructure and economic development returning.  The pillar that will keep all of that together in the long run is literacy.  

“As leaders, teachers must understand ‘educated’ does not mean a person is literate. True literacy is not just the ability to read and write. It is the ability to grasp concepts, to evaluate their importances and to operate with judgment toward worthy ends.

“Through Study Tech, we demonstrate why our students are struggling, why are we merely memorizing without comprehension, why are we failing – or merely passing — exams.  Here, a teacher’s light comes on. ‘Oh, yes, I’ve seen that in my classroom. Yes, I’ve had students who hated math; I’ve had those who used to like reading, but no longer.’   And now they see how they can fix that.

“Yet, we can’t end there.  To rekindle purpose, we run an exercise with the Liberian Pledge of Allegiance.  ‘You have recited this pledge 1000s of times, you lead the pledge in your classrooms, your kids recite it back to you daily.  But do you know what it means? Do you know the actual meanings of the words?’

“The answers tend to be boilerplate.  For instance, teachers commonly define ‘liberty’ as freedom and freedom as liberty. But it’s not circular and liberty is not some static.  It’s a condition of self-determination that must be maintained, protected.

“Now, they see the Pledge in a different way.  It’s not recited words.   With literacy, the Pledge’s true meaning becomes clear, as Founders meant it.  They see that 179 years later, we are still fighting for the same thing.

“As a teacher, the question becomes what is your commitment to Liberia to educate your students?  As leaders in your own right,  you  have that mission, not the government, the politicians, the pastors or the captains of industry.  Now, that dedicated educator can recognize, ‘This is my responsibility. I didn’t cause it, but I’m responsible for it.’”

“That’s when Study Tech becomes not just real but realistic. By combining that rekindled purpose with these tools for full comprehension and use, our educators can go a long way to putting Liberia firmly on the road to fulfilling its founding principles.”

About Applied Scholastics International

Founded in 1972, Applied Scholastics International is a globally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to advancing literacy and learning. With operations in over 70 countries, APS provides innovative training programs and study methodologies, empowering educators, students, and institutions to improve educational outcomes worldwide.

For more information:

Joseph Jay Yarsiah

Applied Scholastics Liberia

Rehab Junction

Paynesville

+1 (404) 719-3310