Monrovia – Outgoing Education Minister George Werner has met with Mr. Ansu Sonii, the newly appointed education minister, and pledged his support to Liberia’s education system after he has left office.
The meeting, which took place on Wednesday, Jan. 31, ahead of Mr. Sonii’s still unscheduled confirmation hearing, focused on ensuring a smooth transition from the outgoing minister to the incoming minister. The meeting further allowed Min. Werner to present Mr. Sonii with an overview of the challenges and the opportunities of the education sector.
Topics discussed included the important challenge of ensuring access to education for all of Liberia’s children, especially the 118,000 primary school-aged children who are out of school. The conversation also covered the importance of enshrining the right to free early childhood education into law, as the 2011 Education Reform Act currently prescribes free and compulsory education for only grades 1-6.
“The government has a responsibility to ensure that its entire population has access to quality education, but that is an expensive right,” Min. Werner said.
Part of the Ministry of Education’s challenge in ensuring this access to quality education, Min. Werner said, was due to an under investment in the education sector. He said Liberia is currently facing a shortage of 6,000 teachers due to lack of funds.
Additionally, the budget does not provide enough money to allow for activities like school construction and repairs, and classroom furniture. He estimated an ideal annual budget to be US$100 million, to ensure that the Ministry could take care of schools and hire the number of teachers needed.
Because of the Ministry’s limited budget, Min. Werner told Mr. Sonii that “the success of your schools will depend on the creativity of your leadership,” before detailing creative measures he has used to achieve significant results during his two years as minister.
“There is a growing recognition that the private sector cannot be left out of the provision of public education,” he said. “The government simply doesn’t have the money.”
Min. Werner noted that one of such public-private programs is the Partnership Schools for Liberia (PSL), a pilot program run by the Ministry of Education and selected non-state school operators. PSL has one overriding mission: to provide every child, regardless of family background or income, access to high-quality, free education. The program is working collaboratively with successful operators to create high-performing schools that are hubs of innovation and educational excellence – with the ultimate aim of rolling out what works across the wider system.
“The students do not pay anything. The uniforms are free. The books are there. The government provides the teachers,” Min. Werner told Mr. Sonii. “The teachers in these schools are on government payroll, they’re receiving training, their performance is monitored, they’re teaching according to the curriculum, and we’re targeting the basics – primary level.”
In response, Mr. Sonii acknowledged the need to look outside traditional funding sources to improve learning outcomes for children.
“You don’t give your wife $100 to have party for 50 of your friends,” Mr. Sonii added, characterizing the dire state of the education budget.
He asked Min. Werner for his support to continue the work he already started. In turn, Min. Werner pledged to always support Liberia regardless of what he does after serving as minister.
Also present during the meeting were the appointed deputy minister for administration, Latim Da-thong, and the head of the Education Delivery Unit, Gbovadeh Gbilia.