Over the weekend, the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Chief of Office Staff to the President of the Republic of Liberia, Nathaniel F. McGill, on behalf of President George M. Weah launched an “Education For All” scholarship program in Margibi, Bong and Nimba counties.
The scholarship program is intended for students at public schools in these counties to continue their education free of charge and to encourage less fortunate parents to send their children to school.
Minister McGill initially launched the President Weah “Education For All” Scholarship Program with L$50 million in Nimba County, L$35 million in Bong County and L$20 million in Margibi County.
The scholarship program, which is expected to be expanded to other counties, comes about after President Weah declared all public universities and colleges tuition-free across the country, and is expected to bring relief to many striving parents who cannot afford the burden of annual tuition for their children, even though it is their hope that their children, too, will become educated like the privileged ones.
The Education Reform Act of 2011, which establishes free compulsory primary education and free compulsory basic education for Liberian citizens, seemed dormant and inactive over the years; as such, President Weah has been initiating many programs that are geared toward alleviating the stress in the education sector and lessening the financial burden of students and parents.
The University of Liberia (UL) and various community colleges are all beneficiaries of President Weah’s free tuition initiatives, even though there has been report of challenges in meeting the general instructional needs of some of the universities. Now the President is extended the gesture to public secondary schools.
Amidst a rousing welcome, Minister McGill reminded the residents that the future of Liberia greatly depends on the young people and the need to build a strong foundation for them could not be overemphasized, as they are the future leaders of the nation. He informed that he had come, on behalf of President Weah, to launch the “Education For All” Scholarship Program, which will benefit over 20,000 (twenty thousand) public school students.
“We have come to launch a scholarship scheme for all public school students. If you are here as a parent and worried about your children’s education, don’t worry again. We are asking all public school students to take their copybooks and go to school without paying any fees,” Minister McGill emphasized.
In Nimba County, the Minister of State told the gathering that “I am very pleased to be in Nimba County today on behalf of the President of Liberia. Few days ago, Senator Prince Yormie Johnson and Jeremiah Koung approached the President about the need to have a scholarship in Nimba as being done in other counties. So, today we are here to launch what we call the ‘Education For All’ program”.
According to him, they will be working with the offices of educational stakeholders in the county to provide more opportunities for students across the country.
He then gave a strict mandate to parents to report to the office of the County Education Officer (CEO) any public school administrator who will collect fees from students, and encouraged parents and students to take advantage of the opportunity.
Similar ceremonies were held in Bong and Margibi counties, where Minister McGill also launched the President’s scholarship program for the youths.
Expressing their appreciation, the people of Nimba, Bong and Margibi, in separate statements thanked Minister McGill for the effort and recalled how they have directly and indirectly benefitted from development initiatives of the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development, recounting the pavement of roads, installation of solar lights, loans to farmers and market women, etc.
They assured Minister McGill of their unflinching support to President Weah and his CDC government, as well as his development endeavors. They maintained that come 2023 they will give back to President Weah as he is giving them now.