The President of Learning Square Liberia, a non-governmental group, Anthony S. Kolaco, Sr. says the growth of any nation lies in education, stressing that when citizens are well educated, they make informed decisions that benefit vast majority of the population.
“Education is the most important thing that Liberia needs now, and it’s the under- privileged kids that need education more, but if they don’t have education then we are heading nowhere as a country”, he further emphasizes.
Mr. Kolaco made the assertions here Tuesday, February 4, at the Saint Eafa Community School in Kakata, Margibi County, while presenting two checks for tuition fees of students, and restoring hope to under-privileged kids by distributing educational materials, including book bags.
Speaking to reporters following the exercise, he explains the organization consists of group of Liberians in the United States, who thought it wise to contribute to the growth of Liberia by providing scholarships and education materials to improve the educational sector.
He says the mission of Learning Square Liberia is to improving education for the children of Liberia, and developing the capacity of individuals and communities to build a healthy and thriving democracy, saying the program is being held under a project titled, ‘Support to rural children education in Liberia.’
According to him, Learning Square Liberia is currently working with 11 schools in five of the 15 counties, noting that his vision is to see every child obtain an education.
The reason we setup this initiative is to provide opportunity to every child, and the best any country can do is to train the next generation that will take leadership and move the country forward, he asserts.
He continues that the organization was previously called Initiative for Democratic Alternative or IDA, but later changed to Learning Square Liberia.
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During our strategic planning, we found out that every child and individual need an opportunity to survive; our new name reflects the diverse set of programs and projects we’re currently embarking upon with emphasis on education and community engagement.
He says under the community project, the institution helps women to establishing a loan scheme to help improve themselves. “We doing this because we realize that when the parents are empowered, they will take full responsibility to ensure their children go to school, while we only provide logistical support.”
Learning Square Liberia is in an international organization with headquarters in California, the United States. It is supporting about 261 students across 11 schools in 15 communities.
Receiving the check on behalf of their schools, the Principal of the Minor community school, Moses P. Wologan and a teacher at the Eafa School Joseph K. Gbanja thanked the donors for the initiative, saying, “it’s not easy to pay children school fees, and we want to thank this organization for identifying with our students, because most of them were sent home due to tuition.”
Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Madam Victoria Yah expresses appreciation to Learning Square Liberia for the gesture, noting, it it had not been for the organization, their kids wouldn’t be in school because they don’t have any means of sending them to school.
She says the distribution of educational materials and offering of scholarships, including school fees is commendable because despite wealthy people being in Margibi County, no one came to their aid.By Lewis S. Teh
