A bill seeking to amend Chapter 9 Financing Education of the New Education Reform Act of 2011, title 10, Liberia Revised Code to provide for section 9.2 and all other subsections for the establishment of Rural Teachers Incentive Fund, has been passed by the House of Representatives.
The House Plenary reached the decision on Tuesday, March 2, 2021 during the 14th day sitting of the 4th session based on a recommendation from a specialized committee.
Plenary’s decision follows a substantive deliberation on the floor by members of the august body.
It can be recalled that the House’s plenary mandated, in March of 2020, a specialized committee, headed by Representative P. Mike Jurry, Maryland County, to work on the proposed amendment of the Education Reform Act 2011.
According to Representative Jurry, the specialized committee conducted several public hearings of major stakeholders for the enhancement of its due diligence requirement to ably inform the judgment of the august body on the significance of the proposed law. Ministry of Education, the Liberia Revenue Authority, the Liberia National Lottery Authority, among others, gave their professional contribution at hearings, thus necessitating the amendment in the 2010 education law.
The specialize committee’s report averred that the Ministry of Education embraced the idea and underscored that Rural Teachers Incentive Fund will positively attract professional teachers’ attention to take up assignment in rural communities.
It was also stated in the report that the Liberia Revenue Authority assured the committee that in order to ensure that the Rural Teacher Incentive Fund project is sustained, small tax amounts must be levied on certain goods and commodities within the country for generating revenue to support the incentive fund, which was buttressed and agreed by the Liberia National Lottery Authority.
The bill is forwarded to the Liberian Senate for its concurrence.