Liberia turns to Nigeria for 6000 teachers to fill vacuum

Hundreds of schools in Liberia are in dire need of teachers and the country’s president has turned to Nigeria for assistance. President George Weah has pleaded with the Nigerian government to provide Liberia with 6000 teachers to make up for the shortage. This forms part of the Technical Assistance agreement between the two nations.

After coming into office in January this year, Liberia’s president said he was met with so many problems which require the assistance of countries like Nigeria.

Speaking with journalists after a meeting with Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Monday, Mr Weah outlined some of the areas his country would need support to improve, including the education, mining, agriculture and health sectors.

“Your sustained technical assistance for capacity building in these sectors is most welcome. For example, Nigerian teachers and medical volunteers to Liberia, under the Technical Assistance Corps TAC) Agreement with Liberia, have been very crucial in boosting capacity development in Liberia, and it is my hope that this assistance can be considerably increased to address with urgency our most pressing socio-economic needs at this time.

“More specifically, under the Bilateral Teacher Exchange programme, we are seeking 6,000 plus teachers to make up for the shortage of good teachers in our educational system,” he was quoted by local media Premium Times.

Weah also seized the opportunity to express his gratitude to Buhari “for the extraordinary and exceptional role that you, our Nigerian brothers and sisters, have played and continue to play in maintaining peace and stability in the West African sub-region, and more particularly, in Liberia”.

Teacher motivation is a major problem in many parts of the world, and this is prevalent in areas that have suffered from conflicts and political instability.

In Liberia, the low budgetary allocation to the education sector over the years has been blamed for the lack of qualified teachers for its schools, especially at the Junior and Secondary levels.

The country’s Ministry of Education has been implementing teacher training programmes and been sponsoring teacher training programmes at various universities but it appears that is not enough.