Liberia reopens high schools but risks facing a mass failure of seniors graduation.
PAYNESVILLE, LIBERIA — After five months, closed schools in the Liberian Republic have reopened. This is based on advice from Liberian health authorities, headed by Minister of Health Dr Wilhelmina Jallah.
The students resumed class on August 17th which was a Monday. Even with the reopening, many students can miss the year and have a high failure rate on the graduation of secondary education.
Liberian schools have been closed since March 16 when the country announced its index case of the Coronavirus. The announcement was followed by a proclamation of a State of Emergency which was observed in the Liberian Republic for ninety days.
While the country was observing compulsory stay home order or lockdown, the Liberian government led by footballer President, George M. Weah introduced a remote learning programme dubbed “Learning by Radio.” The program was to have students listen and learn via different radio programmes. The main objective of this was to help them maintain focus whilst at home.
The government has decided to reopen schools, with the chief intent being the completion of the 2019/2020 Academic Calendar for and make preparations for the new academic year 2020/2021.
The admittance of students into the physical school is being implemented in phases beginning with 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th graders and followed by 10th and 11th graders.
The Early Childhood Education (ECE) level to 5th grade will not be enrolled in physical activities to complete the 2019/2020 academic year as more review is to be conducted to adequately plan for the opening of the ECE level for the next academic year.
Due to Covid-19, changes have been made in the Liberian school system. Currently, school hours are running from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM daily from Monday to Saturday and Sunday in the case of Seventh Day Adventist (SDA). Prior to the COVID-19, school hours ran from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM depending on the institution’s policy.
Liberia may have a mass failure of senior students
The senior students began schooling at the end of July, ended their preparations for the West African Senior Secondary Certification Examination (WASSCE), a type of standardized test which approves students graduation from secondary education.
Liberia has recorded mass failure in WASSCE in recent years. In 2017-2018 result shows that 21,580 students failed the exams, while the 2018-2019 record has it that 651 students from 46 high schools failed all the nine subjects of the examination.
With the presence of the merciless Covid-19, many Liberians are of the thinking that this year’s result of WASSCE will result in mass failure on grounds that schooling did not take place as is the norm pre-COVID-19.
The loss of the school year worries parents, students, and school principals.
“We just hope that our children will try their best in the test because they did not have a longer time in the classrooms during this school year”, said James Kekulah, a father of two schooling children.
“This year is just a spoil year”, Samuel Fagara principal Nathan E. Gibson High school,
His definition of spoilt is that all of their plans as school administrators have gone down the drain, a good example is that 11 of their students are expecting, this is attributed from the long periods spent at home during the lockdown.
“They were home doing nothing”, One thing we are happy about is that they kept the pregnancies and not damage their lives”, points out Mr. Fagara.
According to him this was not a foreign scenario as the periods spent at home were too long and as a resulted unwanted pregnancies had very much been expected. We have one or two cases of girls returning pregnant after the lockdown”, said the Supervisor for WASSCE at the Dominion Christian Institute, Edwin Shannon this was expected. “When the students came back, there were lots of challenges, but we were able to work on our students to prepare them for the test”.
A record from the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) shows that the country’s COVID-19 Cases have ballooned. This week, only one new case was registered by the Health Ministry. So far, Liberia has 1,277 confirmed cases and 82 deaths.
The school’s administration will be responsible for taking hygiene rules and practices to reinforce student’s protection. “Parents are required to continuously observe their children and if the child shows any symptoms of COVID-19, parents should restrict the child from attending classes as well as contact the health team immediately”, explains Prof. D. Ansu Sonii Sr., Liberia’s Education Minister.
The education authorities went on to say “the Ministry of Education reminds all that the Coronavirus pandemic is still a crisis and cautions the public to follow the health guidelines and safety protocols provided by the health authorities.”
University students protest against e-learning
The reopening of schools was welcomed with a protest organized by students at State-run University, the University of Liberia (UL) against the e-learning process introduced by the University authorities.
The students carrying green signs in their hands with anti-government saying " We want our school to be opened; we want to return to classes."
To Patrick Bosco, one of the heads of the students with the title 'militant chair’ "[e-learning] is a good idea, but we want it to be optional and not something that this government will force on us”.
In his view, “in as much you can tell 6th , 7th, 8th,9th 10th, 11th , and 12th graders to go back to school, why can they not open our schools? We will not leave until our plights are heard."
The students demanded George Weah to lead the government in ensuring that UL reopens like it’s done with high schools within Liberia.
Negotiations are ongoing between the administration and leaders of the students as the protest entered its second day, but this time on their campus.
