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17.02.2020 Article

Liberian Educational System, Drawing The Dicuthomy…

By Joe Noutoua Wandah
Liberian Educational System, Drawing The Dicuthomy
17.02.2020 LISTEN

Education, the world over is the mean by which one is enlighten about his or her surroundings with respect to improving the living standard of its people and giving a facelift to the infrastructure’s development of facilities within his or her reach!

With such understanding, of what education ought to be research has shown in Liberia that in most cases Liberians are only interested in the academic side of this lifetime sojourns thus neglecting the vocational and technical aspects of the educations!

Our research took us into the record sections of these various universities’ that are bent on granting degrees to thousands of Liberia mostly in academia almost every year in Liberia! What was and continues to be mind-blowing is that looking at the various colleges that are granting these degrees are clearer insights on the lack of existing vocational and technical colleges in these various universities!

With views sample, around the Country shows that Liberians educational interests is squarely on the academic because their predecessors felt that academia is the only and quicker medium by which riches can be realised without any stress as compared to vocational and technical educations! And, the few of them privilege to go back into the classroom to teach only place emphasis on what they themselves got their degrees into which is academic! No role model, in terms of vocational and technical educations in the Liberian educational sector!

Sadly, for a Nation like Liberia who boast of being the oldest on the African Continent after her senseless fourteen years of madness ( I’m talking about the fourteen years of civil war that took 300,000 lives) when the Sirleaf’s led administration took on to the mantle of power imported Ghanaian’s technicians in erecting light poles on the streets of Monrovia! What a sad narration, for people who boast of degrees?

I am shocked, to still see the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) that still in this computer’s age who takes the lead in technical and vocational educations is still granting certificates in technical and vocation education to her graduates in today’s Liberia! Trust me; those graduates from BWI are the very best today playing major roles in our technical and vocational arena despite the failure of the commission on higher education sectors of the Ministry of Education allowing this Institution to getting a degree granting status being a government sponsored and own Vocational and technical Institution!

Studies also show that, many of our neighboring Countries technical and vocational educations has today boost their infrastructures and human resource development in term of creating jobs for their youthful populations that are considered the future leaders of their respective Countries!

Interestingly, almost all of our graduates from academia are only known for plastering their degrees in their living rooms and at the back of their offices walls without showing tangibles in terms of what they can offer in line with their course of studies! I guessed, some of you reading this write out wondering what this writer is talking about when he himself follows suit in the academia! You must be very wrong, in your thought pattern in that what I did in school as Journalism and indeed is an art and not science!

Some two years plus, when I was with the Renaissance Communication Inc. (RCI) Truth FM in one of many presentations I did discuss on my platform on “Truth Talk” the significance of vocational and technical educations that the great United States of America universities grant degrees in tie and dye, plumbing, carpentry, electricity, catering etc.

Notwithstanding, during my tour of educational duties in the People’s Republic of China precisely Shangsha Hunan Province the city got thirteen vocational and technical universities offering degrees in various disciplines! As shreds of evidence to this, I notice that infrastructure developments were fast-growing on a daily basis where throughout the day works ongoing nonstop!

The DICUTHOMY, is clear here in Liberians pursuit of education that has created a bottleneck in the forward match of the Nation especially with the mindset that you often hear almost all of our students studying or graduates of our various universities big world used which has become a cliché is “as a student of economic, political, law to name just a few” that has proven to be mere talk without substances! What a sad story about this cherish mind changer “EDUCATION” in today’s Liberia?

It’s now time, that the highest commission on education and those relevant stick holders go back on the drawing board in redirecting their attentions to placing more emphasis on vocational and technical education if this Nation is to go beyond what Liberians term as developments as the Country gradually walk into aging!

Joe Noutoua Wandah is a Liberian broadcast Journalist, columnist, writer and provides media consultancies. And can be reach at +231776590725/+231886224134 E-mail: [email protected]

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