Bassa Community College appeals for support

The Grand Bassa Community College or GBCC which is the only tertiary institution in Bassa is at the verge of closure due to numerous challenges.

Students of the college are transported daily in an old truck and a pickup to class. The library on campus lacks basic facilities, including textbooks.

Moreover, the new campus of the community college, which is still under construction at about seven to eight miles away from the current one, is yet to be completed due to lack of materials.

All of these were disclosed to The NewDawn by the president of the college over the weekend in an interview in Buchanan.

Dr. Levi Zangai outlined basic facilities needed to enable the college migrate to its new campus, including water system, electricity, furniture, describing the nine buildings on the new campus which is now be used by students despite the challenges as shells.

He also spoke of the need for equipment for training and transportation.

Also taking a tour of the new campus of the college on May 23, 2015, this paper observed that some of the materials used for the construction were already beginning to depreciate, particularly the tile on the floor and ceilings of few of the nine buildings.

According to Dr. Zangai, foremost thing needed is completion of the buildings, including all offices and classrooms.

According to the college president, an estimated budget of US$285,000 has been presented General Services Agency or GSA for furniture, vehicle (a bus) excluding electricity (solar energy) which estimated cost has not been established.

Meanwhile, Dr. Zangai has called on the people of Grand Bassa and Liberia in general to join the administration of the GBCC in building its capacity as the only tertiary institution in the entire county that is also accepting students from other counties.

He said the second largest student population at the college is from River Cess County besides Sinoe, Nimba and Lofa where students come from to attend the Grand Bassa Community College.

On achievements, Dr. Zangai narrated that the college has had graduation once in 2013 since he took over with many of those graduates currently attending other universities, while others have already entered the job market.

He said graduates from the nursing department wrote exams with students from other universities and they passed successfully and were licensed, which enabled many of them to get employment.

According to him, some companies in the county have taken some of the professors, who were at the college for employment because of their competency.

He said the college in partnership with some of the companies has been conducting training in various disciplines and beneficiaries of those training programs have been grabbed for employment by those entities, adding that the products of the Grand Bassa Community College are working at all of the banks in the county.

Dr. Zangai added that usually people, who are in search of qualified personnel for the job market take their advertisements to the GBCC main campus, seeking potential graduates for employment.

GBCC is one of several satellite colleges initiated by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf across Liberia to decentralize tertiary education for the country’s overwhelming youthful population.  By Ramsey N. Singbeh, Jr. in Margibi – Edited by Jonathan Browne