DEO vows to promote quality education

Newly commissioned District Education Officer or DEO for Greater Montserrado District One-E vows to work in line with policies of the Ministry of Education in enhancing quality learning.

Madam Lucia Boakai Paygai, an early childhood education specialist, was among several other District Education Officers (DEOs) and County Education Officers (commissioned by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday, August 1, 2018.

Speaking to reporters following the commissioning ceremony, Madam Paygai notes that her administration at the helm of the district will make positive difference due to her passion for education.

She says as DEO, she would also recommend programs that would enhance quality learning, especially at the early level.Madam Paygai, who holds a Master’s of Arts Degree in Christian Counseling from Newburgh Theological Seminary in Indiana, United States of America (USA), details that some of the programs envisaged include Individualized Education Program (IEP) that would help difficult learning students, and in-service training of teachers every six months.

She says the IEP will establish whether a child has a specific Learning Disability (LD) such as short attention span, depending on the age of the child.“With the approval of the Ministry of Education, we can try to educate people on the IEP, which is the individual education plan to help students. And another thing that I talk about is having counselors at the schools to help the children get over their phobia because most of the children are afraid of certain things,” said Madam Paygai.

“The reason why they are not passing WASSCE and other public exams is because there is a fear within them somewhere. The first time they brought WASSCE, a lot of them panic, but if you have a counselor in your school that will explain these things to them and where they, too, will explain to the counselor where their fear lies, then education will be improved. And I am happy that this one of the plan of the Ministry of Education,” she says.

Madam Paygai vows that as DEO, she would check all schools under her jurisdiction to know whether guardian counselors are deployed in them to advise students, stressing schools without would be reported to the Ministry of Education for disciplinary actions.