BRIDGE PRESS RELEASE
President George Weah has reaffirmed his Government’s support towards providing quality education to Liberian Students.
Speaking at programs marking the celebration of Liberia’s 171 Flag Day, President Weah used the opportunity to encourage all students to see education as a tool that will better their lives saying: “I encourage all students to take their education very seriously, for it is the key to a better future”.
At the event where the President traditionally speaks to the nation, he emphasised that his Government will continue to work with committed partners to ensure a better education experience for all students. Taking the opportunity, he spoke about the deal he was asking the government to make with students saying that they must fulfill that part of the bargaining by staying in school and paying attention to their lessons: “I urge all students to take advantage of the opportunities that are being afforded to you. We will continue to listen to you to determine how we can improve your educational experience, such as improving school facilities, having more qualified teachers in the classrooms, and having better instructional materials.”
The President and his Government have taken their commitment to education seriously; implementing one of the continent’s most innovative public sector education programmes, the Liberian Education Advancement Programme (LEAP). The largest provider within the programme, Bridge Liberia, has students taught by teachers trained on various academic & classroom techniques, school management and safeguarding training designed to provide better learning experience for students. Teachers are provided teaching tablets on which daily lessons are uploaded; with teaching and learning tracked by supervisors daily; giving the President and his ministry of Education near real time insight into the activities taking place in schools.
The provision of quality education for all falls under goal four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of which Liberia is a signotorate. President Weah highlighted that “With certain major policy changes we have initiated, we are beginning to turn around the negative narrative about the Liberian education system . As a leader who believes in the importance of education, I could not sit by and watch our students falling behind their counterparts in the region”.
Those policy changes are arguably most easily recognised in the LEAP programme; which is shortly entering its 6th year. The LEAP has seen primary students in Bridge Liberia supported schools learn twice as fast as their peers in traditional public schools, receiving the equivalent of a full year of additional schooling.
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