Educate Liberia Conducts Refresher Training for 45 Elementary Schools’ Teachers from 4 Counties
Paynesville – The US-Liberia based educational non-governmental organization (NGO), Educate Liberia Inc, has concluded a three-day “Social Studies and Reading Comprehension” refresher training for 45 elementary division teachers.
The teachers were selected from all six schools that Educate Liberia affiliates with in four counties, including Montserrado, Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, and Gbarpolu.
Two of the participants told FrontPageAfrica how grateful they are for the refresher workshop.
Ms. Doris M. Davis, one of few teachers from the Martha S. Dunn Pre-Primary School in Buchanan City, Grand Bassa County, stated that their little efforts in the classrooms are being augmented by Educate Liberia. Ms. Davis praised the NGO for providing materials that will help them (teachers) in the elementary division to present their lessons more efficiently and effectively.
“Everything taught here, we take it back to the classrooms to the children. It’s the main thing for which we left our homes in the counties to come here,” Ms. Davis said.
For teacher Edmond B. Richards, from the Euphemia Barclay School in Bensonville, he was full of praise of Educate Liberia for providing “a comprehensive training to us, including video and audio”.
Teacher Richards, who was attending the workshop for the second time, said since coming, he has seen massive improvement in his lesson presentation to the kids he teaches in grades 4, 5 and 6 and sometimes 7 to 9. He teaches General Science and Social Studies.
Speaking earlier, Prof. Debbie Scott-Caranda, Acting Country Director for Educate Liberia, said that they are working along with the Ministry of Education to improve the educational system for the kids, teachers and the six schools that her organization affiliates with.
“We are working with schools that MOE has approved for us to work with. Right now we are doing phase one, which is teachers’ training, because without training the teachers, the children won’t learn; what the teachers learn will definitely spill over to the children. I have always said you cannot teach what you don’t know,” Mrs. Scott-Caranda said.
She hopes that in the future, Educate Liberia can add on other schools, in the other parts of the country, to the ones that they presently work with.
She praised the teachers for being “very energetic and eager to learn and that makes a big difference.”
Educate Liberia plans to conduct at least five more lecture series with their present set of teachers, who have attended the last three series.
“We have five more to go in this series. This is number 3; number four might be sometime around February or March next year. And after the last five series, Educate Liberia will select other teachers from other schools, to begin from step one with the series,” Mrs. Scott-Caranda stated.
Prof. Scott-Caranda also disclosed that in addition to providing refreshers for the teachers, all of the schools that they are presently affiliating with, have been given facelifts, too. “Educate Liberia doesn’t only train government schools’ teachers, we also work to improve the physical structures, as well as give the teachers incentives and instructional materials to motivate them and enhance their teachings.”
Mrs. Scott-Caranda praised the partnership between them and the Ministry of Education; adding: “We have no problem; they know we are there to help. We have an MOU with the government and we work with only public schools not private. We are assisting government in training their teachers.”
Currently, Educate Liberia is self-funded by its 5-member Board of Directors. They are CEO Dr. Clarice Ford-Kulah, Dr. Rosalita Kennedy, Ms. Elizabeth Armstrong, Mrs. Wlede Pratt-Frankfort and Prof. Debbie Scott-Caranda.
This third workshop was facilitated by the master teacher trainer, Prof. Scott-Caranda and Educate Liberia’s 1st guest trainer, Ms. Marcelle Yhap. They both focused on the content of the Liberian Social Studies Book Series 1-6. The teachers practiced forming and answering Comprehension Questions (Research Questions) based on the textbook information. The teachers also mastered the importance of Social Studies and the Concepts and Topics that are covered in the elementary school.”
To add to the variety of presentations, the educational program, “Come & Learn It” with “Aunty D”, a HOTT TV Series, produced by MAJWAH Learning Lab, was enthusiastically viewed and used as a teaching tool for comprehension.
Also speaking, Ms. Marcelle G. Yhap, Educate Liberia’s 1st guest trainer, who has been teaching for over 15 years, praised the teachers for coming with wealth of experiences in their classroom.
“It’s been really nice; the teachers have a lot of good questions; they have a lot of good insights. We are doing a lot of sharing of different ideas on what we can do with the new situation including spacing and distancing. With the limited resources in the country, you really have to be creative; so how do you create a lesson with existing information? I primarily focus on helping them on how to structure their classrooms, how to create lesson plan and be very creative with their lessons,” Ms. Yhap said.
About Educate Liberia
EDUCATE LIBERIA INC, is a conglomerate of Liberian educators, social workers, counselors, 501c professionals that believe in the education system of Liberia. It was established as a Non-profit Corporation with the expectation of rapid expansion in the education and vocational training industry. We run/operate schools, develop/oversee curriculum, conduct teacher training, and create conducive learning environments. Our schools are aimed at creating life-long learners by providing a quality, relevant, and affordable education. We believe that we, as Liberian educators can truly educate our own children. Our goal is to service the underserved population of our homeland Liberia. We are dedicated to providing services in language/literacy, math, social studies, science, the performing arts, vocational trade, special needs, STEM, and community intervention through the use of the knowledge and skills of Liberian social workers, educators, and the like. Our programs are designed to reach every child, in every village, town, and city in Liberia, West Africa.
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