By Lincoln G. Peters
Liberian lawyer Atty. Facia B. Harris has warned the government here that human rights, especially educational opportunities for citizens, are not hand-out.
The Paramount Young Women Initiative Executive Director lamented that the lack of educational opportunities is linked to poverty.
Delivering a keynote speech at the graduation ceremony of the Crest Foundation School over the weekend, Atty. Harris said poverty also has strong gender impacts which contribute to keeping girls out of school.
The female activist wondered if Liberians want to always have an unequal society wherein only a few people progress while they look at their neighbors, brothers, and sisters starve in dreadful poverty and discrimination.
Atty. Harris suggested that this is a question for people to sleep over and let the answer be that while there are many tools for reducing poverty, education is the major one.
She also wondered if Liberians want a country where fathers have abandoned their responsibility to their children, causing many to become school dropouts.
“The two major ways to tackle this problem are to increase educational opportunities for all and to make sure the education people get [is] functional,” she stated.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]
The female activist disclosed that the right thing to do is for the government, parents, and people of goodwill to invest in the education of the children, providing equal opportunities for girls and boys.
“For students and children here, who are not in school, the right thing to do is go to school, stay in school, attend all your classes, not spying to pass a quiz, test, or final exam,” she said.
According to her, it is safe to assume that more students are passing to the next class and graduating than those who fail.
Atty. Harris disclosed that this reality is contradicted by two truths which are that the number of illiterate people and school dropouts in Liberia is more than those who are literate.
Accordingly, she said the joy of the moment was not complete when fewer people succeed in life and many fail.
She argued that when many people are left behind and fewer go ahead, it’s not a good sign for progress.
She believes that getting it right from the start is important in doing the right thing, saying that in a country where 48% of its people are literate, according to UNICEF, and drug abuse such as KUSH is highly consumed, especially by the youth, is failing to do the right thing the right way.
Journalist Harris indicated that a country where 54 percent of women are literate compared to 77 percent of men, and a country where 80 percent of the population is in vulnerable and/or informal employment, according to the Ministry of Education, is not equally serving all.
Madam Harris described education as one of the fundamental human rights for everyone.
Yet, she said, there is a huge educational disparity in Liberia, primarily impacting girls and women, that continue to leave the country with significant demographic and development challenges.
She stated that the gap of 54% of literate women compared to 77% of men should be closed through intentional actions of investing in girls’ education by this school, the government, and people of goodwill.
She cautioned the students against bullying their friends, stating that not going behind the school building to smoke or drink alcohol are all the right way.
“Congratulations to our dynamic Graduates. Remember there is only one way to do the right thing, and that is by doing it the right way,” she noted.
Atty. Harris said people often hear that there is only one way to do the right thing and the right way.
