Liberia: Bridge Wants UN Assembly Focus on Girls Education

Paynesville – Bridge International has embarked on an education project aims at empowering and promoting girls education at primary and other levels in Liberia.

The project dubbed ‘Bridge Super Power Project’, according to firm, is geared towards drawing the attention of the world to push an agenda for girls’ education ahead of the UN General Assembly.

At the start of the project, which was launched on Thursday 20 September, Bridge Deputy Country Director Joe Gbasakollie said “inequality education” is a social problem that is not only affecting girls children in Liberia, but also other countries around the world.

This educational discrimination, according to Mr. Gbasakollie, is due to the inability of underprivileged parents to provide quality education for their children.

It is from this background that the partnership school firm is ensuring that quality education is provided through the use of technology to help make education possible for kids – especially girl children.

“Bridge wants capable and affordable module of education [by] using technology. In those countries we are operating, including Liberia, it is proving that our module can lead to significant education,” Gbasakollie said.

“Our recent evaluation shows that kids in Bridge module Liberian schools were learning about two times more than their friends in neighboring schools.”    

As a result, he said high-quality education provided to children of poor parents, thanks to the Bridge module has place Liberian students with other students across the world.

While expressing Bridge International’s quest to promote quality education, Gbasakollie noted that it was necessary for the program to also focus highly on girl education as a tool for their future empowerment.

He furthered that since the firm’s entry into Liberia in 2016, it has been exploring opportunities with a thought on how technology can fit within the Liberian educational sector in solving social menace.

Bridge currently supervises 68 out of a total 194 schools run by the LEAP Program in 10 counties across Liberia, according to Gbasakollie.

The Bridge Deputy Country Director, however, called the attention of policy makers to add more seriousness in providing support to girls’ education through the project.

For his part, Bridge PR Manager Alexander Beaded added that girls are the most vulnerable in Liberia, so they need to be adequately prepared to ensure they impact the society.

“Girls are venerable in society and many other girls hardly reach high school because they drop out due to several other reasons and Bridge Liberia is thinking about how to get girls empowered and in school to make an impact in society,” Beaded said.

As part of activities during the launch, several women from various professional backgrounds assembled at the Kendeja Elementary School in Thinker’s Village to share their thoughts with female students at the Bridge operated school on how to become self-motivated and create an impact on Liberia.

The panelists included NASSCORP Coordinator and Public Educator Isata Ville Cheeks, Director for Girls Education Division at the Ministry of Education, Lorpu Mannah and Liberian Gospel Music Ambassador Kanvee Gaines Adams.

In separate statements, they encouraged girls on how their talents can be cultivated and maximize to create a change for themselves, Liberia and the world.

They cautioned young female to overcome challenges in pursuant of their future goals.

“Don’t allow the condition you are currently faced with bring you down and don’t listen to anything that will bring you down,” Isata Ville Cheeks told the students.

Madam Cheeks then expressed regret that most female students are reluctant to take advantage of sciences.