President George Manneh Weah

The recent pronouncement of free public college and university education in Liberia by president George Weah must be applauded by all Liberians and well-wishers of our beloved country. Yet, we at The Perspective cautiously hail the president's pronouncement in principle because it rekindles our longstanding hope for some measures to revitalize our battered education system.

Indeed, our colleges and universities are plagued by multiple problems, including the blatant lack of basic academic infrastructure, academic resources and trained teachers among many other requisites for successful learning. Decades before the senseless civil war, we were steadily making progress in education. In fact, it is the 14-year long war that actually thwarted the progress we were making--leaving our institutions of learning in total ruins.  And the 12-year postwar administration of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf did not help matters. The Sirleaf cabal of thieves wantonly looted millions of donor money, grossly neglecting the education of our children--the postwar generation. Little wonder, some international educators and researchers have been saying we parents are better educated than our children.

We must therefore to take concrete steps toward rejuvenating our learning institutions. We appreciate a leader who has the will-power and determination to reverse the trend.

However, it would be very remiss of us not to ask some questions regarding the motive of the Weah administration and the feasibility of this initiative. Is the president's pronouncement an attempt to placate our disenchanted university students who have been protesting against the recurrence of official corruption amidst the deplorable state of the nation? Is there an allocation for free university education in the 2018/2019 national budget? In other words, how will the government fund free university education if there is no allocation in the budget that has been billed as a pro-poor budget?

The President stated that the free college education took immediate effect, but why was it not put in the national budget (2018/2019)? What happens to the social benefits offered by companies operating in the country--of which some of our college and university students are beneficiaries?  Will the tuitions be given back to the students or returned to the companies? What happens to our deplorable elementary, junior and high school education?  Does the government have adequate educational infrastructure that can absorb the resultant student population? These are just a few of the questions that come to mind, considering the timing of the president's pronouncement.

There are several companies operating in Liberia that are to provide scholarships for Liberia students as part of their respective social benefits packages.  Golden Veroleum, for example, provides scholarships for all Liberian students majoring in agriculture.  SIFCA operating Cavalla Rubber Corporation and Maryland Oil Palm Plantations gives $60,0000 to Tubman University for scholarships for students and $40,000 to the Methodist Agriculture College in Sinoe County for student scholarships. We are told that on some occasions Tubman University used the $60,000 to pay some of the money the university owes ECOBANK. 

We notwithstanding sense a great sigh of relief from the burden of paying for college and university education in Liberia. With this sigh of relief, we are reminded of the "Free Education in Nigeria" track by the legendary Prince Nico Mbarga whose lyrics ran in the 1970s: "The Nigerian government has made it possible for Nigerian children to be educated free". We do not know if the Nigerian version of free education included elementary, junior high, secondary and tertiary education. That was many, many years ago.