HARPER – The Special envoy and advisor to President George M. Weah, Dr. Laurence Konmla Bropleh, at the 7th Commencement Convocation (2019-2020) of the William V. S. Tubman University in Harper on Saturday said President Weah urges all to keep on pushing beyond Tubman University as he renews his commitment to improve the educational system, knowingly that no country can develop without investing in the education of its people.
Dr. Bropleh told the 264 graduates, faculty and parents that the President is determined on expanding the economy with the creation of jobs, and with urgency get the road projects moving during this dry season as well as make sure that the health care system improves while doing all that he can to keep the peace.
“President Weah and the government of Liberia are aware that no country can develop without investing in the education of its people. As such, have continued to take direct and practical actions towards strengthening Liberia’s educational sector, which forms an integral part of the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development. The PPAPD is considered the linchpin for sustained economic growth and development, because it encapsulates policy actions that are more generally aimed at reducing poverty by improving access to services,” Dr. Bropleh said.
Guest speaker Bropleh stated that the President Weah believes as President John F. Kennedy said in his Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961 in Washington DC that, in the new Liberia as espoused by him, we must all seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together, let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.
Bropleh argued that the intent of President Weah, like President Kennedy is for all to unite, opposition and ruling party, to heed in all corners of Liberia, the command of the Prophet Isaiah – to ‘undo the heavy burdens….and let the oppressed go free.’ When parents and guardians don’t have to pay exorbitant fees for WASSCE and tuition in public schools, the President is undoing the heavy burdens and setting the economically oppressed free.
Propoor Housing Unit and Roads
In a loud tone standing at podium in the Pavilion Hall of TU, Dr. Bropleh outlined the undoing of heavy burdens of the President.
” When low-cost homes are constructed in the Southeast of Liberia for the first time in its history, the President is undoing the heavy burdens and setting the oppressed free.
“When the road from Pleebo to Fish Town does not get abandoned, but continued by the Weah’s Administration with dedicated plans to continue the road to Zwedru, Tappita, Saclepea and connected to Ganta, the President is undoing the heavy burdens borned by citizens in the Southeast for years and setting those oppressed citizens free from bad roads.”
He added: “And, if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let all sides join in creating a new endeavor – not a new balance of power, but a new Liberia of law – where the strong are just, and the weak secure, and the peace preserved.”
TU Graduates
Dr. Bropleh said the labor force had increased by 264 graduates in the formal sector of Liberia by a number of enterprising young men and women who have, but by all standards, they fulfilled all of the requirements prescribed by the University’s authorities.
He noted that they’re aware that arriving here ( graduating) was never on a silver platter; and it didn’t come out of patronage, but immense sacrifices.
“Allow me to state what most students see as obvious: academic life at Universities in Liberia is rigorous and perhaps unnecessarily tiring. Not in a negative way, but in a way that facilitates challenges, pushes the boundaries, and tests the unknown,” Dr. Bropleh said.
“Often times, graduation ceremonies are characterized by emotions resulting from elongated years of hard work and sacrifices. It witnesses hopeful graduates, wearing long robes and square-shaped hats with a tassel that keeps getting in the way. Relatives and friends will gather, many of them emotional, too.”
He encouraged the graduates that ut one thing that is of great importance is discovering who they are beyond these ceremonies.
“It is about discovering the little part of you that seeks to do right, and building on it for excellence. Initially, we may encounter some of the obvious answers that you’re God’s creation; that you’re scholars, that you’re brilliant and made of all that is possible; but discovering who we truly are is to unveil our new persona, having been processed through these walls, emerging with changed minds and attitudes.”
Dr. Bropleh stated: “Discovering who you are is to begin, from right here and now, to utilize every capacity you have acquired not just for your personal growth, but for the growth and development of your neighborhood, your community, and most importantly your country. Do not allow your education to push your shoulders high above society, make-believing that you have arrived.”
Firmly, he admonished the graduates to use their education to look back and pull someone up; to lower their height for someone to stand on their shoulders to see a brighter future; and, as the late Mahatma Ghandi said, ‘to live simply so that others may simply live’.
“With the growing wave of change in society, some negative, you are required to use your education to avert the negativity thrown at society for the wrong reasons.”
He added: “But be reminded that while you may carve all the “WANTS” that you desire, life gives you no guarantee that you’ll get all the “WANTS”. However, it has proven that you do get what you believe, with actions; because a major aspect of the success equation has to do with believing in yourself as I call it, self-believability.”
“It takes an incredible amount of courage to wake up every morning and keep moving and keep motivating yourself to work towards the life that you’ve always imagined living – a life of ultra-professionalism.”
The President Special Envoy also said success is not something that we ARRIVE at one day. Success has everything to do with your individualistic choices, actions and experiences – no matter how massive or meager they are.
“Success has to do with being true to who YOU are and how you choose to respond to every circumstance that confronts your life. As you leave these walls, I entreat you to be grateful for who YOU are and fully appreciate your individuality and all that you have in your life now. Do the very best that you can with what you have NOW, while at the same time striving toward becoming an even better version of yourself.”
The 2019/2020 TU Guest Speaker told ghe graduates to be an optimist; believe in themsely that they can achieve anything they set out to do.
He stressed that they shouldn’t allow no one make them believe that you’re good for nothing; or that their education is a waste; because they may not have control over what people say or do to them, but they have control over their reaction to what they say or do to them.
“Let me say to you, dear graduates as President John F. Kennedy said to the Americans as he assumed the office of President in 1961: ‘Into your hands more than President Weah’s, will rest the final success or failure of our nation’s course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Liberians has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves, known and unknown of over 250,000 Liberians, many young as you are who lost their lives during Liberia’s darkest period still loom around the country because as Liberians, instead of pushing education, we took up arms against each other for selfish gains,” he averred.
Comparison of Students’ Struggles
Comparing students at TU with the LU, Dr. Bropleh said there are similar encounter of difficulties along life’s journey, including the difficulty of low enrollment, non-attendance and frequent drop-outs resulting from the increasing cost of education had remained a major challenge to attaining education long before H.E Dr. George M. Weah became President of Liberia.
The “Changing Minds and Changing Attitudes” lecturer pointed out that it became particularly shocking upon hearing some time ago that every semester at the University of Liberia in Monrovia, about 20,000 students would process their billings, yet only about 12,000 students would attend and pay and about 5,000 of the 12,000 students who would be in attendance are dependent on some form of financial aid or scholarship. The rest of the students do not attend due to the lack of financial means.
“Certainly, this situation cuts across public Universities and colleges across the country, and TU is of no exception. That is why, barely eight months into his leadership, H.E President Weah took the bold step of isolating what seemed one of the biggest challenges confronting our human resource development drive by making undergraduate education free at the University of Liberia and all public universities and colleges across the country,” Dr. Bropleh smiled
Moreover, in the quest to address the aged-old challenge of standing in long queues, delays in the registration processes, lack of systems to effectively and efficiently manage students` records, and to adequately manage the University of Liberia’s Administration and its system in general, the guest speaker said the President prioritized and provided budgetary support at the very beginning of his Administration for the digitization of the state-run University of Liberia, something the President desires to replicate at all State-run Universities and Colleges across Liberia.
“Noteworthy also, is the government’s policy to take responsibility for the payment of WASSCE fees for ALL senior high school students across the country, as it reduces significantly the burden of parents who now would only need to pay tuition for a child from Grade 7th to 12th,” he indicated.
He furthered, rhese interventions have inarguably demonstrated the President’s commitment to investing in education which is an indispensable and essential thoroughfare to achieving excellence and success.
But more so, it indicates the government’s determined will to invest not only in physical capital, such as roads, but in human capital, for the over-all growth of our citizens and our economy.
He concluded: “Congratulations! Go, glow and live the moment to impact society in whatever meager ways beyond these walls; for like in the words of the American self-help author Oliver Napoleon Hill, if you cannot do great things, do small things in great ways. GOD BLESS LIBERIA.”
Meanwhile, besides Dr. Bropleh, Maryland County’s Harper District Representative P. Mike Jurry and Grand Kru County District #2 Representative, Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa attended the graduation.
Rep. Koffa’s attendance followed an invite from 25 Grand Kru graduates.