By Lincoln G. Peters
Assistant Labor Minister for Legal Services Cllr. Welma Blaye Sampson has stressed the need here to ensure quality education for a sustainable future for the country, cautioning that there can be no sustainable future if the future leaders are not educated now.
While dedicating and launching the Sean Devereux Science Lab in Brewerville Tuesday, 29 March 2022, Minister Sampson said quality education is the right of all Liberians authorities must commit to ensuring quality education for the future leaders of the country.
“If the generation sitting at the table or wanting to sit at the table will not ensure our younger brothers and sisters receive a quality education, they must as well step aside and allow us [to prepare] them for the future,” said Minister Sampson.
She noted that it’s time for all dreams – killer politicians to step aside and people with passion and love for the country to be given positions of trust and influence to make quality decisions for future generations.
She suggested that it should not only be worrisome to the country but to the existence of the people as a community. Minister Sampson urged Liberians to take action when opportunities reach their doorsteps.
“We must all fight to ensure that we have the right people that will represent us in order to attract the necessary environment we need to provide the quality and affordable education, healthcare and opportunities that we need,’’ Minister Sampson urged.
Speaking to school-going kids, Minister Sampson indicated that research has shown that many girls in Liberia before reaching the age of 18, drop out of school or get pregnant due to several factors.
Cllr. Sampson named sexual exploitation and abuse, instant home choice, limited female teachers who should serve as motivation to keep other girls in schools across the country, high tuition, early marriage, school violence, unfriendly curriculum for females in the country, and traditional norms.
She also cited unsafe sanitation and restrooms as reasons that contribute to girls dropping out of school before age 18.
The young female lawyer disclosed that the dedication of a restroom of the Sean Devereux Elementary, Junior and Senior High School is just the tip of the icebox.
She urged that everyone should work together as a community to address the many problems that the children face in accessing quality education.
“I am honored to formally open this modern sanitation facility of the school,” she said.
Madam Sampson commended the administration and the Parents and Teacher Association (PTA) for buttressing the Government of Liberia’s efforts to provide quality education to children.
“This project is an essential one to the retention of students, especially female students,” she said.
