By Ben TC Brooks| River Gee County Correspondent
Fish Town City, River Gee County – Thursday, April 3, 2025 – As the Liberian government strives to improve quality of education across the country, public schools in rural Liberia especially River Gee County lack chairs and other basic educational amenities.
The situation in recent days raised serious concerned among parents, citizens, humanitarian actors and politicians when local media in the county reported the shortage of chairs in most public schools, as students were seen sitting on dirt floor in classrooms to write notes during instructional hours at the Fish-Town Demonstration and the Taith Memorial elementary and junior high school; outside the County Capital Fish-Town respectively.
Addressing the critical situation through a press release, on his Birthday, April 2, 2025, River Gee County Senator Francis Dopoh promised to make available 1,000 armchairs for distribution in the most needed public schools across the county.
Said Senator Dopoh, “As a mark of my appreciation for the gift of life and service, I am redirecting funds toward the provision of at least 1,000 arm chairs for elementary school students in our county.”
“My office will provide an initial grant of US$10,000 to a recognized non-profit organization in River Gee County that will partner with the Department of General Construction and Carpentry at the RGVTTI to procure and distribute these chairs,” Senator Dopoh concluded.
He called on every citizen and residents of River Gee County to be intentionally concerned about the educational future of the county’s younger generation.
Sen. Dopoh then promised his continual efforts in creating and providing the enabling environment for the ordinary people, especially the women, children and the youths through education, micro loan, among other things.
Statistics of schools and number of students in River Gee
According to the Ministry of Education’s School Census for 2022, River Gee County is home to approximately 23,000 students; of these, around 19,000 students attend public schools, which are served by only 711 teachers across 103 schools.
A staggering 472 classrooms serve these students, but of these, only 154 are structurally sound. In terms of essential resources, only 34 of the 84 public schools have access to potable water from hand pumps, and only 8 schools are equipped with student toilets.
Thus, for every 225 students in these schools, there are at most 7 teachers, resulting in an average teacher-student ratio of 1:32. These statistics are a clear indication of the dire need for systemic change and resource allocation, not just within the government, but also within the local community.
With this alarming condition in the county it is time for all citizens to demand better for school going children of River Gee.
National Budgetary allotment for MOE 2019-2025
Over the past six years, from 2019 to 2025, so far the National Legislature has appropriated in total of US$6.74 million for the procurement of furniture and fixtures for public schools across the country.
Of this amount in 2019 and 2022, US$2.9 million was allocated, but only US$1.008 million was actually used to procure furniture and fixtures.
The 2024 and 2025, US$3.8 million has been appropriated, but only US$1.4 million has so far been committed by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP).
These financial numbers are quite indicative of certain levels of less care appertaining to a very critical sector. Educational policy makers and public officers are not only morally obliged but compel by raison d’etre to up their respective performance in attending to the basic needs of the future generation of educators are attended to and met.
Hence, the Liberian government is being urged through the sector agency to quickly fast track cum address the current institutional constraints and infrastructure challenges confronting the county’s schools and other parts of the country; especially southeastern Liberia.
It can be recalled that a fortnight ago two online media outlets, Smart News Liberia and Rural Reporters News Network, reported news stories of children sitting on grounds at Demonstration Public School, Fish-Town and Taith Memorial Elementary &Junior High School located in the rural River Gee respectively. It is indicative that these reports seemed to have caught the attention of the general public in and outside the county. Like the Taith Memorial School earlier damaged and now repaired handpump; the senator has decided to intervene with 1000 chairs for the most needed public schools in the county after Rural Reporters News Network and SMART News Liberia reported the shortage of chairs with students sitting on bare dirt floors.
Edited: Jesefu Morris Keita| Editor-In-Chief
