Monrovia – As the debate surrounding the proposed plan to outsource the primary education sector of Liberia to a private for profit institution, Bridge International Academies, the opposition All Liberian Party is warning the Ministry of Education and the Government to halt the process.
The ALP says it is concerned that a major reordering of the education system in Liberia cannot be accomplished just with consultations over a brief period and with controversies brewing among key stakeholders such as civil society groups and the country’s teachers.
Stated the ALP “If a fundamental change is to be accomplished that will improve education in Liberia that must be done with the cooperation, coordination and acceptance of stakeholders. Unfortunately, the Government of Liberia appears to be in a hurry and it may not have considered the full repercussions of the change it proposes. The haste of the government is also worrisome as for-profit motives in Liberia have usually been characterized by self-interests and ended up disastrously in our history and recent past”.
According to the ALP in the last ten years of Liberia’s democratic dispensation, concession agreements that have been hastily concluded have not adhered to the laws of the country and consequently not achieved the desired results of significant employment, improvements in livelihoods or brought about shared prosperity and sustainable development.
“We cannot afford to have the same results with the rights to education, which is fundamental in achieving a prosperous, orderly and democratic society”, the party added. The party is therefore calling on the Government to halt the implementation of the plan.
“Accordingly, the ALP calls for a halt to the plan to implement a change in the structure of education in Liberia without validation by the country’s stakeholders. ALP believes that given the current economic status of the vast majority of the citizenry, such a change will require serious consultations with all stakeholders”, the party declared.
The Party says the arrangement is being done hastily and is an attempt to obligate the next regime to the agreement.
“The ALP also calls upon all Liberians to add their voices to the call for a halt to the “Partnership” and to demand that the Government of Liberia heeds to the advice of informed domestic and international stakeholders. The ALP sees the Partnership School for Liberia as not only been hasty but also prematurely obligating the next regime”, ALP stated.
Speedy JFK investigation
Meanwhile, the ALP is also calling on President Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and her government to investigate issues developing from the John F. Kennedy Referral Hospital and bring perpetrators to book.
“Let it be clear that recent developments coming out of the JFK are of grave concern and require serious actions on the part of Madam President. The issue of JFK is no politics because it borders on the lives of our people, and all of us, and such acts are not only embarrassing but condemnable in the strongest possible terms. Health care for our people is a matter of paramount concern”, the party stated.
