(LINA) – A Governance Commission (GC) report has identified lack of human capacity as a challenge to the attainment of the Government of Liberia goal of a Middle Income Country in 2030.
The report stressed the need for government to focus on capacity building through the improvement of the country’s education sector as well as lending the necessary support to make it more effective and efficient.
“If we must have a safe landing, our educational system must be given the capacity to produce individuals with the requisite knowledge that will drive this national vision,” Commissioner E. Othello Gongar told a one-day dialogue recently at a local hotel in Monrovia.
He noted that the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf-led government envisioned this national agenda and began supporting it since 2006 by revising the country’s education laws and subsequently declared primary education at public schools free and compulsory for all school age children.
According to the former Education Minister, this, among many other policies, was instituted in recognition of the important role education plays in producing the workforce needed to drive national agendas of the country.
The three areas of focus include workforce requirement, needs of the sector and gender imbalance in access to education.
Panelists making presentations the dialogue included UL president Dr. Emmett Dennis, who spoke on the restructuring of higher education to address regulatory and accreditation needs, and Labor Minister Neto Zarzar Lighe who spoke on the role of tertiary education in providing a basket of diversified skilled professionals to promote and sustain growth and development.
Gender and Children Protection Minister Julia Duncan-Cassell also made a presentation on facilitating female enrollments in post-basic education as a means of empowering the girl child.
Other panelists included Dr. Michael Slawon, and representatives of both former Education Minister Etmonia David Tarpeh and Finance and Development Planning Minister Amara M. Konneh.
LINA