Two thirds of the girl children who should be in school in Liberia are not in school (UNICEF, 2021). This is worrisome, especially given the fact that boy children in school are far ahead of girl children in school. In the rural part of Liberia, girls between the ages of 15 and 19 in school are half the number of boy children in school in the urban part of Liberia ([email protected]). In the poor countries of the world, 20,000 girls give birth every day, numbering 7.3 million births a year ([email protected]).
By Togba-Nah Tipoteh, [email protected]
In every country, there are good and bad sides to traditionality and modernity. In Liberia, the good side is preventing teenage pregnancies and encouraging girls to go to school. The bad side is promoting teenage pregnancies and marriages, thereby discouraging girls from going to school. Money-driven men are engaged in using their power to get girls pregnate in and out of marriages. Some men are sleeping with multiple girls. Greedy parents are selling their girls to the greedy men and the girls think that it is the right thing to do. These girls go around bluffing with western clothing and imported long hair, trying to make up for their lack of schooling. Their actions are promoted by greedy men, leading to the worsening of the longstanding and widening poverty problem that has become the pretext for violence.
No wonder, we see violence all around in Liberia, despite the Farmington Declaration and statements by statesmen condemning violence. The declarations and statements are taken for jokes and played as clips on the radio many times. As the awareness raising continues, more people get to know the Truth. For example, it is impossible for street violence to take place in the presence of the Liberia National Police and the leaders of the violating organization do not know about the violence. This joking is the reason why statesmen do not want the girls to go to school so that they can join the ranks of ignorant people who accept the dangerous jokes. But the awareness raising by people who love Liberia continues to prevent teenage pregnancies and the lack of getting the Truth.
As Liberia approaches the October 10, 2023 General and Presidential Election, this concern about teenage pregnancies is of great importance because the young people of the ages between 18 and 35 make up sixty per cent of the voters of Liberia. When a girls does not have access to the Truth and she becomes of voting age, she makes the wrong decision and Liberia becomes worse off. People who love Liberia have to stop actions that make Liberia worse off.
How can the foregoing actions be taken to prevent Liberia from getting worse off and getting better off? The best way is for the people who love Liberia to continue to raise awareness in ways that motivate the people to work together, through the Rule of Law, to transform the prevailing unfair electoral system to the enduring fair electoral system. It is only through his transformation that persons with good records can get elected to bring the system of Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and any other country.