Todee District – Far from modern-day reality, Principal John Isaac, of Shar-Teeman Public School, in Toomey Town, Todee District, has to teach six classes alone.
Report by Mae Azango, [email protected]
With only three blackboards, the lone teacher partitions each class with a line, drawn by chalk, so that each blackboard will have two lessons for two classes sitting in one space.
The SharTeeman Public School which has no school building of its own is housed in St. Paul Lutheran Church located in Todee District Rural Montserrado.
It is just one among many public schools in Liberia’s lee-ward counties that have numerous challenges, ranging from bad roads network to lack of school buildings and lack of teachers and instructional materials.
The challenges have been an age-old problem long before and during the previous administration.
Save the Children, with support from the European Union recently constructed a pit latrine and a hand pump near the church.
When Principal Isaac, who is physically challenged, finishes with the writing of his notes on the separate blackboards, he struggles with the help of a stick to rush off to another blackboard to do the same, until he completes copying notes on the board.
Mr. Isaac takes time to teach each section as rotates around a tiny space of the church, from where the school operates.
“I have only one volunteer teacher, Mr. Aaron F. Kollie who is not on the government’s payroll, and we have not given him a cent since he has been helping me to teach for three years.”
On this day when a reporter visited the makeshift school, Isaac’s volunteer helper was out. “He is sick and is not here; therefore, I have to teach all the classes, from kindergarten to fourth. I have to divide the blackboard into two and put grade one and two lessons on the same blackboard, while grade 3 and 4 lessons are on the same blackboard. And kindergarten 1 and 2 lessons are on the same board, so we have only three black boards,” Says Principal Isaac.
According to UNESCO, the Government of Liberia, along with other governments, agreed on the Dakar Framework for Action in 2000 with focus on the Education for All agenda which aims at meeting the collective commitments of education for better results.
Liberia launched an ambitious Education Sector Plan (ESP) 2010 ‐2020 that preceded initial plant or each six wide‐ranging education goals by 2015. Some degree of progress has been achieved, but much is yet to be accomplished.
Despite all efforts by the government, civil society and the international community, Liberia unfortunately has not been able to achieve Education for All on account of some militating circumstances.
There is no signboard on the main Todee Highway to indicate the town or the school, but Interestingly, the narrow road covered in bush, that leads to the town, has a point where people disembark from motorbikes to walk on a small makeshift bridge made with a palm tree before getting on the second long makeshift bridge.
The bridge is made of several poles of reeds and built in the form of a monkey bridge.
Walking on the monkey bridge is a work of its own, with the trees shaking under one’s feet, the trek can be dangerous.
No Teaching Materials
Principal Isaac says the Ministry of Education which monitors twice a year to bring educational materials, has not sent any since the beginning of the school year.
Now, he is compelled to buy few materials like chalks, pens, notebook to take attendance, most times with money from his own pocket.
Principal Isaac says bad road network, especially in the raining season is to blame.
“The Education Ministry has not brought any instructional materials and nothing goes on during raining season because the water takes over the road that no vehicle can come here. If there are educational materials brought for the school, we have to tote them on our heads to bring it here and it is difficult to cross the monkey bridge while carrying things on your head,” he said.
Parents Pay School Fees Small-Small
When asked about the school fees each student pays and how it is used, he said students in kindergarten pay L$3,500 for registration and activities fees, while 1st to 4th grades pay L$1,000. L$ 250.00 goes to registration while $750.00 goes toward activities fees.
These days, however, Isaack says, payment of fees is slow and school activities, are off and on. Because parents find it difficult to pay. “For this reason, we told parents to send the children to school and pay the fees small-small, so some parents can bring as low as L$ 50.00 as part payment. If we were going by the education mandate, that if a child owes any fees, they should be put out of schools, not a single student will be in school.” He says.
Gauging by the Dakar Framework, primary schools like Shar-teeman public school have poor quality of education because they are under founded due to inadequate national budget.
There are still about 0.5 million children out of school in Liberia and about twenty-one percent of the children population do not complete primary education. Variation in education has increased, with the poorest and children from the most disadvantaged families bearing the greatest brunt of the challenge. On the overall, the poor quality of learning at primary level still has thousands of children leaving school without sustainable skills. Education still remains under-funded due to inadequate national budget; however, the government is committed to increasing support for budgetary allocation to education)
Principal Isaac says another problem they have, is keeping the children in school.
“If we had feeding program here, the kids won’t leave school at recess to go on their parents’ farms to look for food. But because there’s no feeding programs, the entire school is empty by recess period. The District Education Officer (DEO) visits here and he knows the condition of the town.” Said Principal Isaac
DEO Edward A. Johnson, who was at the Ministry of Education for a meeting, spoke via mobile and confirmed the many challenges listed by the school’s, principal but explains that he has been informing the ministry about the various challenges faced by his district, but nothing has been addressed yet.
Says Johnson: “Our major challenge is the bad road network. When it rains; people have to cross the monkey bridge to get to Toomey Town therefore, during the rainy season, no project goes on there, because vehicles and bike care unable to ply the road that has turned into a river. Some of the other schools around there, the children are even sitting on the floor, because there are no chairs. But at least we have benches but we do not have a school building so the school is using the church building to teach the children.” Said DEO Johnson
Assistant Minister for Basic and Secondary education, Felecia Doe-Somah, via mobile, said she was unaware of the situation in Todee and asked FPA for the name of the school and Town, in order to follow up.
Deputy Minister of Instruction Minister Alexander Duopu, was not in the office. When contacted via mobile, he did not answer after several attempts, neither did he respond to the text message sent to his mobile phone.
Meanwhile, Principal Isaac who recalls that he has not been paid for two months is worried about his volunteer teacher’s name be placed on the government’s payroll because the load is too much on him alone.
“The load is heavy on me to teach all the classes since Mr. Kollie got sick, I hope the ministry will act through this medium to place teacher Kollie on the government payroll, because it is not easy for him to pay his way every day from Morris Farm to come and teach, when he is not being compensated.”
