The Minister of Education Ansu Sonii regrets the abuse of Liberian students at the More Them Me Academy in central Monrovia saying, parents are not sending their children or girls to school to become wives for teachers. Speaking Thursday, 18 October in Sinkor, Monrovia after being honored as Outstanding Statesman of the Decade, Minister Sonii urges parents not to compromise issue of students’ abuse, but to expose any teacher or instructor using students as their wives, which contradicts the teaching profession.
He says the honor bestowed on him by a local group PACA, came as a surprise, and that the situation at the More Then Me institution is regrettable.Two U.S.-based institutions, ProPublica and TIME published recently horrid reports of persistent rape of young girls between ages 10 and 16 at the charity More Than Me Academy in Liberia, infecting the victims with the HIV virus.
The sad situation occurred when less fortunate and vulnerable little girls at the American-run charity were persistently raped and infected by its Liberian liaison officer, HIV/AIDS-positive Mcintosh Johnson, from 2014 up to his reported demise in prison in 2016.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms. Katie Meyler confirms the number of girls, who were raped at the MTM Academy, could have been a quarter of the school, saying, “Everyone over the age of 11.”
Minister Sonii flanked by his Deputy for Administration Latim Da-Thong, calls on parents to get involved in the day-to-day activities of their children, and expose anyone found to be abusing students in the country.
According to him, the Ministry of Education is doing everything humanly possible to ensure what happened at the More Then Me Academy does not resurface in any part of the country.
The former university lecturer and administrator continues that the Ministry is working tireless in providing a better future for the student populace of Liberia, who he stresses, must be protected from any kind of abuse by their teachers.
He wants parents throughout the country to report to the ministry any instant of child abuse by teachers for prompt action, rather than compromise.
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Presenting the certificate to Minister Sonii, PACA National Chairman E. Frederick Baye, calls on government to place more emphasis on primary education to adequately prepare children for their future educational sojourn.Baye also requests government to increase logistical and budgetary support to the Ministry of Education to play its role of molding the minds of the country’s youth.
By Emmanuel Mondaye–Editing by Jonathan Browne
