Gompa, Nimba – the Ministry of Education, along with partners and education stakeholders, begin the revision of the progress of activities of the MoE annual Operational Plan for the 2018/2019 Fiscal year which was derived from the Five-year Getting to Best Education Sector Plan. The early stage of the review was conducted by county-level officers with three counties, Montserrado, Grand Cape Mount and Gbarpolu presenting their achievements of targets of the Operational Plan as well as pointing out challenges impeding the progress of implementation of priority areas.
Ahead of the county level presentations, the Joint Education Sector Review was officially opened by the Deputy Minister for Administration, Honorable Latim Dathong, who welcomed all participants and pleaded for their commitment for the next five days of the review process. The Deputy Minister, Hon. Dathong later on during the event spoke on behalf of the Minister of Education, Prof. Dr. Ansu D. Sonii, Sr, presenting an overview of the performance of the education sector as well as thanking donors and implementing partners for their continuous support to improving the education sector of Liberia. He reminded that the Ministry of Education Operational Plan, be understood as pursuing three interdependent goals: to expand access to education, to improve the quality of education, and to strengthen governance of the education sector. He first spoke on the achievements in key areas, focusing on teaching and learning.
Prior to Minister Dathong’s presentation on the Performance of the Education Sector 2018/2019, the Deputy Minister for Planning, Research and Development, Honorable Alton V. Kesselly gave an overview of the Joint Education Sector Review, outlining the activities of the five days while highlighting the objectives thereof.
The Key-note was addressed by Dr. Julius Nelson, Jr., President of the University of Liberia, under the theme, Restoring the Education Sector for quality outcomes through collective efforts and innovation. In his remarks, he stressed the need for quality outcomes in education by improving the quality of teachers, hence, quality teaching. With emphasis, he added, “It is time, to weed out of the classroom, untrained teachers who are rather destroying the education sector”. The speaker also cautioned all stakeholders of the Liberian Education Sector to remain contemporary and inductive in their stride to catch up with history of today’s reality in the 21st century; adding that every educator must start preparing themselves for the education sector with a mindset that they were still in the 4th century rather than believing that they are in the 21st century; with that, progress would be made faster. He further advised educators to work together citing, “the art of collective effort is not a crime, working together is not a crime, in union strong success is sure, impacting knowledge to our young people is not a “Lone-ranger” experience. It is a team effort that requires collaboration by all in the education sector”.
Parts of day one event included presentations from the Head of the Curriculum Division of the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Mardea Herring-Mensah, who expressed MoE persistence for excellence, highlighting the work done to transitioning the National Curriculum to competency-based. She outlined reasons for the change citing that the previously posed challenges to learning gains
Other remarks and presentations were held by head of entities, visiting partners and education experts, including the Head of WAEC Liberia, Honorable Del Gbotoe who presented on the Comparative Analysis on the Trend on LSHSCE and Liberia’s two years performance in WASSCE; and a visiting partners from the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Gambia, Alpha Bah and Andrew Gomez who presented on a Cost-effective Mini joint education Sector review, the Gambia Experience. There were remarks from various education donors and coordinating agencies, including the United States Embassy in Liberia, USAID, World Bank, Global Partnership for Education, European Union, United Nations representatives, Civil Society Organizations, and representatives of Government Ministries and Agency.
Participants were given a chance to interact with sets of panelists during the Questions & Answers sessions in an effort to provide clarity on important issues with a focus on county education perspectives, solicit recommendations and solidify actions to strengthen County Education Systems.
It is customary that the Ministry meets annually with all partners and donors to analyze the progress of activities set out in the previous year’s plan, particularly the Getting to Best in Education Sector Plan (G2B-ESP). This process enables effective decision-making by partners and stakeholders by guiding their support to appropriate areas for intervention.
Day two of the event is set for November 19, 2019, in continuation of day one’s objective.
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For inquiry, call 1416 or email contact@moe.gov.lr
