Harper – Tehneseo P. Brohdonyen, Maryland County’s new County Education Officer, says it would require the collective effort of the county school system and locals to improve education.
Mr. Brohdonyen was recently inducted as CEO of Maryland County after serving the same position in Grand Kru County
Mr. Brohdonyen, who previously served the same position in Grand Kru County, pointed out that the development of every child’s education should be a priority.
“Your child or children spend five to six hours at school from Monday to Friday. The rest of the time is spent with you [parents] at home. This means you have a part to play in developing your children into good citizens,” Mr. Brohdonyen noted.
The new county education officer also laid out plan to work with private schools in the county.
“Our work in this county is to ensure that we have an effective school system that will make Liberia depends on your county in terms of human resource. Therefore, we cannot leave out the nonpublic schools in our work plans. We will work with them to ensure that live up to the standard set by MOE,” he said during his induction in Harper City recently.
“In line with our Early Childhood Development Program, a child starts school at age three, and the first class is ABC. There’s no Nursery A, B, or C in our ECD Program, we have ABC, KG-1 and KG-2. From there your child is expected to be in the first grade at age six (6).”
Brohdonyen induction was organized by the Maryland County Teachers Association, the County School Board and the Principal Association.
Local government officials, education support partners, representatives of local, international organizations, civil society organizations, students and parents and chiefs were in attendance.
Philip Toe, a teacher assigned in Pleebo, said the rotation of local government officials is a welcoming initiative by this government.
“I think our government is going on the right track, because if government officials remain in a particular locality, he feels complacent with old ideas,” Toe said, pledging to work with the new CEO to improve the education system in Maryland County.
The outgoing CEO David V. Boakai assured his successor of making inroads in the county’s school system.
“When I was here, I got the overwhelming support of the Teachers Association, The Principal Association, the local authority and the people of Maryland County. This is something that I am thankful for. I urge you to continue this path,” Mr. Boakai said.
Rubin Scout, Development Superintendent of Maryland, pledged the local government support to the new CEO.
“If our government’s Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity must succeed, we have to give our best to ensure that our children get sound education,” Scott said while certificating the outgoing CEO for his meaningful contributions to the county.
Regina Topor, President for Maryland Principal Association also pledged the association’s support and willingness to work with the new CEO.
“We cannot overemphasize how zealous we are to see our county school system moving forward. To achieve this feat, we must work with you [our CEO] to get all schools working in line with MOE standard”, Topor said.
Meanwhile, Andrew B. Chea, Kardoway District education officer, called on the Ministry of Education and partners to build vocational training centers for youths in the county.
The head of the Kardoeay District school system in Maryland said the lack of skill training program for young people in the county has left many young folks going to gold mine or riding motorbike taxis.
At the same time, Joshua Kenderma, WFP Program Assistant in the county, said plans are underway to reintroduce the school feeding program to the county.
“The World Food Program is going to start supplying food to elementary schools very shortly in Maryland County, as part of our support program towards schools in the county”, Kenderma disclosed.
Alpha Daffae Senkpeni is a multi-media journalist and fact checker with over 18 years’ experience. Senkpeni is the Director and Senior Editor of Local Voices Liberia (LVL) – a network that operates Liberia’s major independent fact checking desk. LVL has implemented several media development projects funded by USAID and the European Union. Since 2021, he has led the organization’s implementation of fact checking projects including fact checking workshops for journalists, media literacy programs, and community forums – all geared toward countering disinformation and expanding the culture of fact checking.
Senkpeni holds a law degree from the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law and a BSc in Mass Communications from the University of Liberia. He’s also an alumnus of the Radio Netherlands Training Center (RNTC) with a certificate in Digital Content to Counter Disinformation. He has also attended several fact checking trainings.
