In Central Liberia: Teachers Abandon Schools for NGOs
By: Winston Kerkula, II in Bong Co.
Forum
Monrovia, Liberia
Distributed by
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
According to a survey conducted by our Central Liberia correspondent, half of the total number of teachers assigned in the area have turned their back to schools they had previously worked with due to low salary and lack of incentives. The teachers indicated that they and their family members are experiencing difficulties and cannot continue to live like that.
They complained that teachers in Liberia are being paid low salaries which cannot even come on time, saying, “these meager salaries cannot solve our many problems we are faced with.”
In Gbarnga City alone, the survey revealed that out of the four high schools currently operating in the city, only one economics instructor, Stephen J. Mulbah, a 2004 graduate from the Cuttington University College, is teaching the course.
At St. Mark’s Lutheran High School, a private-run institution, many teachers are said to be leaving the institution due to the same low pay problem.
According to one public school instructor, Sacramento Zawolo, the Ministry of Education’s salary disbursement can come once in a blue moon and as such it was unnecessary for him to pay serious attention to the classroom, while his people continue to die and wait for help that is not forthcoming.
Many of the teachers also complained that they have to pay their way to Monrovia to get the little amount the Ministry of Education is giving to them. They said: “It would be better for the Ministry of Education’s authorities to carry our little pay to us.”
