Monrovia – Liberia’s debate team to Croatia, Youth for Change also called Team Liberia, is calling on the government through the Ministry of Education (MOE) to invest more resources in the education sector of the country.
Report by Augustine T. Tweh, [email protected]
Team Liberia made the statement on Thursday, August 2, during a press conference at the Ministry of Education in Monrovia.
According the group, education is the bedrock to the development of every country.
According to the team manager, Nehwon S. Suah, it is about time that the George Weah-led administration invests more in the education system.
“One of the recommendations in our report is that the issue of finance should be resolved when it comes to this kind of international competition so that the team will have more time to prepare academically for competition,” Suah added.
According to him, Liberia successfully crossed from stages one to eight, defeating two countries during the debate.
Suah also added that Liberia won the best star of the competition, even though the competition was challenging due to the number of countries in the contest.
Also speaking, Youben A. Wilsitoe thanked the government through the Ministries of Youth and Sports and Education but emphasized that the competition was a serious challenge for the debate team.
“It was not an easy one basically coming from a country like Liberia where we have so many other challenges. Basically, we are not up to task as USA, Canada, Germany, Australia and other countries; but we did extremely well in representing our mother land,” Wilsitoe said.
She added that for Liberia to develop, every Liberian must invest solely in their minds. She opined that if Liberians do not build their minds academic wise, it will be impossible to maintain infrastructure development.
“We can have big buildings, good roads but if our minds are not developed, we won’t be able to properly maintain any of those infrastructures,” she noted. She called on the Ministry of Education to prioritize extra curriculum education, including debate and public speaking.
“Let us not just prioritize education that we get in our classroom but extra curriculum that helps to also build up our minds. We learn other things during debates and public speaking. Most of those things, we might not necessarily learn them in the classroom,” she stated.
Following the debate, a journalist from Europe-based RTL Television asked John S. Sinbae, one of the Liberian debaters, “What is the strength of your educational system that your team has performed so well?” “I answered, you saw us play; my interview with you is also a clear manifestation and evidence of the system we come from.”
On behalf of the Ministry of Education, the Deputy Minister for Instruction, Alexander N. Duopu, thanked the debate team for their excellent performance and reassured them of the ministry’s commitment to prioritizing the educational system.
“People continue to say our system is a mess; we can take the best out of the mess and the world can see that because our President did everything to his best. It is our commitment as a Ministry to make sure that we support you. Education is one of the priorities of the President and we hold that seriously,” Minister Duopu said.
For his part, the Communications Director of Orange Liberia, Dr. Kimmie Weeks, assured the debate team of his entity’s full commitment to supporting the education of young people to be useful in the society.
“The debate was important for us to put resources behind it. As several of the delegates said, they had the opportunity to showcase the best of Liberia. As young minds continue to develop, obviously they will be able to contribute across all sectors,” Dr. Weeks said.
In further appreciating them, he handed Orange caps, t-shirts and recharge cards to them.