(MONROVIA, LIBERIA – Friday, June 13, 2014) President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has commended graduates of an early child development center, Lolognta, for their exemplary performance, brilliance and deportment. “We all owe them a big thank you,” she said.
According to an Executive Mansion release, the Liberian leader was speaking Friday, June 13, at the third Thanksgiving and Awards Program of Lolognta in the Fiamah Community where 17 pupils are now qualified for first grade lessons in other schools.
Lolognta, a Kpelle word meaning “Children’s Place” or “Little Children’s Hut, is community based program for children modeled after “La Case de Tout Petits” in Senegal and designed to improve the development of children through a holistic approach that combines education, health, nutrition and social development. Its establishment here was made possible by President Sirleaf in 2011.
The Liberian leader, likewise, praised the Fiamah community for taking ownership of the program. She said for the school to get support and assistance from outside is one thing, but the school belongs to them in the community. “I’m so pleased that this community has taken ownership of this program and everything that happens here belongs to them,” she said.
President Sirleaf said despite the economic difficulties facing everybody, when one comes to a program and sees the contribution that the community makes to their own children, it sets an example. She hoped that this would emulated by other communities. “They need to come here, see what the community has done; see what has happened to their children as these children are on their way because the quality education that they get here will so lead them that to want to go further and further.”
She encouraged parents to continue to give their children an education and work with them as they begin to grow so as to mould their minds for the future in a positive way.
The Liberian leader urged the parents and the leadership of the Fiamah community to continue the program because what it’s doing for the children will stay with them throughout their lives. “They will remember Lolognta; they will remember their beginnings; they will be inspired to go on and be the best they can be in the world,” she pointed out, thanking everyone for their contribution to make the project a success.
Earlier, the president of the management committee of Lolognta, Mrs. Cythia Davis, said the early child development center was no mistake; rather it was a gift of rewarding benefits and an excellent idea to be used as an instrument to bring about transformative, positive development. “It’s not a payback package, but a nationalistic intervention with an aim to contribute to the human capital development of the county,” she said, adding that the school is an investment into the future. She thanked the founder, President Sirleaf, for her farsightedness.
Mrs. Davis disclosed that the school had an enrollment of 83 children for academic 2013/2014; up from 63 the previous year, 2012/2013.
Despite the successes, she highlighted challenges. Among them, Mrs. Davis pleaded with President Sirleaf to assist the school construct an annex to accommodate the growing number of children wanting to enroll at the school.
Speaking on behalf of the graduates, dux Maryann Kamara expressed thanks and appreciation to Madam Sirleaf for the school, management team and community leaders for a job well done. She also expressed thanks and appreciation to the parents who made it possible to keep their children in school.
In post conflict Liberia, many children underachieve academically because they enter primary school too late and are poorly prepared for academic success due in part to weak or non existing early childhood education program. Lolognta provides children with skills that prepare them for the first grade level.
The school is also a place for informing, training and sensitizing parents in aspects of early childhood education development with the goal of placing them in a better position to monitor young children in the family setting.
The criterion for selection of beneficiaries is primarily based on the family’s financial capability. These are mainly out of work parents and families whose combined income falls below US$100 per month. Its establishment is an imitative that embodies President Sirleaf’s desire to “make the children smile again”.
Mr. Jerolinmek Matthew Piah