Senator Chea Raises Concerns Over WASSCE Results 

Grand Kru County Senator, Cllr. Augustine S. Chea has raised concern over the mass failures in WASSCE for the 2023/2024 academic year noting that effort should be exerted to avoid a repeat of mass failure.  

Cllr. Chea in a Facebook post noted that what is more concerning is that, the failure was in two major subjects, English and mathematics.

"While we have made incremental progress in some areas of governance and development, our educational sector has not recovered from the ravages of the civil war," Cllr. Chea noted.

This, he noted is a sad reality which is as a result of not prioritizing education by failing to make needed investments in the sector.  

Cllr. Chea said the poor education (teaching and learning) outcomes have a direct correlation with the low investment in the sector and that if this trend continues, and is not ameliorated soon, Liberia will become doomed. 

He said: "What kind of nation are we building where many of the high school graduates cannot perform or read at the elementary level and many of the college graduates don't know basic English and can't solve simple algebra problems."

He frowns at quasi-colleges being established amid the serious learning and performance deficit.

"There are so many substandard private colleges and universities established in the country in the last 20 years, the majority othe f which do not even have the basic or minimal facilities for teaching and learning, needless to talk about the faculties. Added to them are the public colleges and universities established in the counties instead of vocational/technical schools; so each county now has a college or university with no facilities and qualified instructors/professors. Many of them are operating in high school buildings sharing the facilities with each operating on an annual budget of less than a million US dollars," he stressed. 

dollarsCllr. Chea believed, would only produce more underperformers.

He further noted that Liberia does not have the money to support colleges and universities in all the counties, as such there is a need to recognize that and don't shy away from or play politics with it. 

He blasted that every lawmaker wants a college in his or her county, but cares less about the fiscal impact or whether there's money to fund it.

This he said is not a serious process for the country and young people.

"How unserious could we be to allow this kind of malfeasance? If we are not serious about anything as a country and leaders, the one thing we shouldn't play down or care less about is education," Cllr. Chea added.

"Because education, good education, I mean, lies at the core of our development and progress. 

H3bce, he said education should not be sacrificed or be the opportunity cost for anything, rather, it should rank among the first in Liberia's order of priorities.

Cllr. Chea further chastised the University of Liberia and other institutions for poor academic systems, emphasizing overcrowded classes.

He said: "Classrooms designed or intended for 40 - 60  students now have more than twice that number, and the same is true for our public primary and secondary schools. And check out the faculty (there are some outstanding ones there though who are making the sacrifice for the country), but that university had one of the best faculties in the world before the war, both local and international (professors from many parts of the world), brilliantly paid. It was the high salaries that attracted these brilliant academics."

However, Cllr. Chea noted that Liberia had a very good education system in the past than most of its counterparts, for which many came to the country to pursue education, which he said is not happening anymore. 

Instead in frown at the country not being able to maintain its good system, for which citizens are going out to other countries for better education. 

"What a shame for Africa's oldest independent country," he taunted.

As such he sees it national imperative that effort be made to restore the education sector to its pre-war status by making serious investments in education, by committing at least 15 percent of the national budget to the sector.

Cllr. Chea further recommended the establishment of public primary and secondary schools in highly populated urban areas and closing down the substandard private schools,  that regional universities be established, with boarding facilities, and transition the county colleges and universities to vocational/technical (TVET) institutions, well equipped and properly staffed. We need skilled agriculturists and technicians more than college graduates because there where most of the jobs are and the future jobs will be. 

Support Cuttington University as a private regional university; and because of the population concentration in the North-Central Region, establish a public regional university in Nimba to add to Cuttington.
He wants the government to close down all the super-high schools operating as colleges and universities, Invest more in teacher training, develop an attractive salary and benefits structure for instructors and professors, and establish a special education fund to support the reconstruction or re-establishment of private day and boarding schools that ceased operation after the war due to the destruction of their infrastructure during the war. 

Design a special English and Literature and Mathematics curriculum for colleges and universities devoting the first semester of college to only English/Literature and Mathematics. 

This, Cllr. Chea noted, would mean eight and half semesters for a bachelor's degree and that English and Literature should be offered or taught up to the senior year irrespective of major or specialization.