BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – After Grand Bassa leaders used County and Social Development Funds to expand the Boique Elementary and Junior High School to accommodate the senior high level, the school remains unable to open due to what education officials say is a lack of qualified teachers.

The school’s annex had been built to accommodate the increased demand for public school spaces as a result of the rising cost of private schools. Authorities also sought to reduce congestion at the Bassa High School in Buchanan, which has been attracting students from nearby districts.

The Boique school annex, which is located in Grand Bassa’s first district, was built along with two other annexes the second and fifth districts. The Project Management Committee used US$223,700 to construct the three annexes. Each project cost between US$73,700 and US$75,000. Last year, the county’s leadership turned over those projects to the Ministry of Education.

However, only the Gio Town Junior High and the Fortville High School are operational. The district education officer in Grand Bassa first district, James David, said the ministry had authorized the opening of the annex as a high school, but due to lack of qualified teachers, the school will not open this academic year.

He added that opening the annex requires nine qualified teachers with bachelors and associate degrees and B Certificate for teaching. So far, the school has not been able to recruit the necessary teachers.

David explained that he had reported this problem to the former county education officer, Edwin Kwakpeh, who also reported it to the ministry’s central office. David said the Education Ministry had noted the larger problem of needing to recruit 2,000 teachers across the country.

“There is no problem stopping it [the recruitment], but you know our children that are in the cities and other areas don’t want to come in the interior to teach,” David told The Bush Chicken in an interview on Thursday. “Those are some of the delays – and they want somebody from that area. If they have that qualification to come there, we will appreciate that; the minister has given us the go-ahead.”

James David, district education officer for Grand Bassa’s first district. Photo: Sampson David

Even if the high school were to open now, it would lack a science laboratory and a library. The county had planned to attach libraries and science laboratories to the three annexes in the year after they were built, but a failure to remit the funds prevented the projects from being completed.

“High school is not like elementary school, because you need to have a library and science laboratory and other things,” David noted. “But one good thing that the minister said the last time when we were in a meeting – he said that they are planning to build in the districts and counties libraries. That is in the making; they are just waiting for the money to do so.”

In light of the delay in hiring qualified teachers, the district education officer said he wants parents to help recruit teachers. He noted that it would help them reduce the high cost of sending their children to schools in Buchanan, Harbel, and Monrovia.

The district has 43 public and private schools, of which, 39 are solely elementary schools and four are at the junior high level. There are no high schools in the district. However, the district education officer disclosed that the Owensgrove Public School would soon be extended to include a high school, as parents decided to hire and pay for teachers at the school. He encouraged parents near the Boique High School to do the same.

The district had anticipated having trouble recruiting qualified teachers. Before the school could be dedicated last year, Rep. Hans M. Barchue had allocated funds for 10 residents to receive scholarships to attend any university in Liberia and return upon graduation to teach at the high school.

Three have dropped out of school while one died. Five are expected to graduate in December, including two persons at the University of Liberia, one at the Grand Bassa Community College, one at Trinity Bible College in Harbel, and two at the Harbel College in Margibi.

The Boique High School is highly anticipating the return of these scholars as teachers. This is the second academic year that the school has not been open. In a recent meeting with education authorities, district parents who dread the cost of sending their children away for school inquired about when the school would open. Authorities have assured the parents that the annex will open at the beginning of the next academic school year.

The problem facing the Boique High School is not unusual in Liberia’s education system. The country faces a severe shortage of qualified teachers. In fact, only half of the teachers are considered qualified for the grades they teach.

For schools in rural areas like Grand Bassa’s first district, the problem becomes compounded. The Education Sector Analysis conducted by the Ministry of Education in 2016 showed that qualified teachers are less likely to work in disadvantaged districts, as they prefer living and working in urban areas where they can have a better quality of life and increased opportunities for career growth and income generation. Moreover, at the high school level, where educational requirements for teachers are higher, there are even fewer qualified teachers. As a result, over the past decade, as Liberia has seen a growth in qualified teachers at the Early Childhood Education and primary levels, the share of qualified high school teachers has declined. In 2015, only a third of the high school teaching workforce was qualified.

Featured photo by Sampson David