Teacher Enhancement Program (TEP) étude préalable 2022-2023

Préalable : Liberia Visit Report 21st March 2022 Miss Margaret Roche and Miss Mercy Mukulu Strathmore University, Kenya

1. Introduction Recommended reading. To get an understanding of why parents are unable to pay school fees or why there is generally so little money available it may be worthwhile reading these documents Liberian education sector analysis This report is compiled by Miss Margaret Roche and Mercy Mukulu conducting the assessment and training. It gives an overview of the interaction of Strathmore facilitators with ; Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia Education Secretariat, teacher training, School Visits, meeting with Stella Maris College representatives and interaction with educators. The visit to Liberia took place from 20th February to 3rd March 2022. 1.1 Meeting with the Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia Education Secretariat On Monday 21st February, 2022, the facilitators visited the Catholic Education Secretariat in their offices for the first physical interaction. Monsignor Gabriel Blamo Jubwe welcomed us to Liberia and the archdiocese and granted us the authority to proceed with the planned itinerary. The Diocese has 28 schools that house Kindergarten level to Year 12 students. Out of the 28 schools, 22 schools are run by the archdiocese while 6 schools are run by the missionaries. The secretariat, headed by the education secretary, Rev. Fr. P. Sumo-Varfee Molubah has different arms ; the Instructional team, Finance team, Internal Audit team and the Clerical Team. The Instructional team is responsible for teacher training, instructional methods and does school assessments on a termly basis. The Finance team is concerned with resource management in the schools, financial reporting and budgeting. The internal audit office is independent and operates at the capacity of verifying the finances of the schools and the secretariat. The clerical team supports the secretariat with all administrative duties. Interaction with the different departments of the diocese gave the facilitators an idea of how activities are carried out, strengths, successes of the schools and the challenges they are facing. Below are the most pressing challenges that need Urgent attention ;

a) Budgetary Support The School System depends solely on Tuition and Fees collected from students for its operations. Unfortunately, of the (22) twenty-two Schools directly operated by the Secretariat, only (8) can Sustain themselves financially. The rest of the other (14) fourteen schools are dependent on these (8) eight schools for subsidy ; thereby, leaving the System with a huge budget deficit every year. Most of the Schools in the rural parts of the Archdiocese find it extremely difficult to have students meet the required fees payment. Most times, the Church is stuck between keeping them in school and sending them home for fees ; especially given that the Schools are used for evangelization. b) Scholarship for deserving Students As a means of keeping the schools functional in places where students have shown immense interest in acquiring quality Christian education but lack the ability to pay fees, the Secretariat has made numerous attempts in scouting Scholarships to no avail. For some of these Students, the only hope of acquiring Quality Christian Education is through the Church ; unfortunately, this is becoming increasingly impossible due to lack of funding to keep those schools functional. c) Manpower Improvement through trainings It cannot be over-emphasized that qualified manpower leads to improved productivity. As it stands, the system has had to improvise when it comes to a qualified workforce. In most cases, people are placed in positions for which they haven’t got the requisite training and or expertise. This has a negative impact on the level of productivity as well as on the performance of the students. The system has made some strides in this direction but it has been very challenging in terms of cost. Given what we have seen so far, it is hopeful that when staffers are given the proper training it will positively impact the level of work being done by the School System and Society at large. d) Availability of Educational Materials : Prescribed Textbooks, Computers, Science Laboratory Equipment, etc. Most of our Schools lack the Ministry of Education’s prescribed Texts books, Science Laboratory Equipment and computers. The importance of these educational materials cannot be overlooked. The School System has made great efforts in securing some of these items but it has proven a very serious challenge given that most of these materials are not readily available or if available, very costly in Country and as such must be purchased from abroad. Any Assistance in this direction will foster a huge boost in Students performance. e) Infrastructure Improvement/ Upgrading For a great deal of time, most of the learning facilities have been left unattended due to lack of funding. The desire to have these facilities improved or upgraded has been at the heart of the Secretariat ; however, given the already strained budget of the School System, they can do little. Most of the Schools have prospects of attracting more students when upgraded or improved. This in turn will lead to increment in revenue thereby reducing their budget deficit.

2 Teacher Training Sessions The training began with a word of prayer. It was formally initiated by Fr. P. Sumo-Varfee, the Education Secretary who highlighted the interaction of Strathmore University with the archdiocese of Monrovia and the training objectives to the educators. Fr. Varfee welcomed all the participants and the team from Strathmore University. The first session, Reflection on Practice was given by Miss Margaret Roche. In her presentation she introduced the Teacher Self Image and rethinking practice as a teacher, an administrator, educator and as a stakeholder who interacts with the schools. She used a PowerPoint presentation and played a video at the end of the session. Participatory teaching was incorporated as the participants were asked questions, they were allowed to ask questions and divided into discussion groups. On the second day, two sessions took place ; classroom management introduction by Miss Roche to the educators and Financial Management by Mercy Mukulu to the administrators. Discussions on Financial Management in the schools and the secretariat were carried out and a number of successes and challenges were outlined as aforementioned in 1.1. On the last day, Thursday, 24th February, 2 sessions were carried out ; classroom management by Miss Roche and Psychosocial support by Mercy. In the classroom management sessions, the principals and teachers were both asked to read separate documents that apply to their practice (see annex iii). The psychosocial support session was a discussion on some of the challenges the teachers face in their interactions with the students and every other stakeholder in the school. Discussions on healthy relationships in the workplace came up, the issue of child protection came up as well and mental wellness in general. 2.1 Training Objectives Prompt educators to rethink their ; · School practices · Classroom Management · Lesson Planning · Positive discipline · Financial Management · Mental wellness practices 2.2 Participants’ Profile The training participants included educators and the archdiocese staff. Total number of participants was 32 (males : 17 ; females : 15) who belonged to the different schools in the archdiocese. 2 participants were education secretaries of the 2 other dioceses. (See annex i for attendance list) 2.3 Facilitators’ profile The team which delivered sessions during the training comprised 2 facilitators from Strathmore University Teacher Enhancement Programme (TEP). Given below is a brief description of the trainers along with their sessions conducted by them. (See annex ii for schedule)

# Name Designation Session 1 Miss Margaret Roche TEP Director 1.Reflection on Teaching Practice 2.Classroom Management 2 Miss Mercy Mukulu TEP Administrator 1. Psychosocial Support 2. Financial Management

2.4 Venue and Date The training sessions were carried out for three days, Tuesday, 22nd February to Thursday, 24th February 2022 at the St. Teresa Convent school hall. Social distancing was observed and everyone had their mask on.

3 School Visits The team visited three schools under the Archdiocese of Monrovia ; St. Teresa Convent School, a girls’ school in Sinkor, St. Gabriel School, a mixed school located in Virginia and St. Peter Clavers, a mixed school located in Buchanan, Grand Bassa. The team interacted with the schools’ principals who then gave a tour of the school, visit to two classes within the schools, visits to the staff rooms, laboratories and interaction with some teaching staff. The schools’ facilities were in good shape and well maintained. St. Gabriel in particular provides lunch for the students through Mary’s Meals and the principal indicated that lunch is an intensive for the students to come and stay in school. The other schools do not provide lunch. In all the schools, there are no textbooks which forces the teacher to be quite creative through the use of their smartphones to create teaching content.

4 Meeting with Stella Maris Polytechnic University Representatives The team together with Fr. Varfee and Sr. Grace met three representatives from the faculty of education in Stella Maris Polytechnic University. The idea of meeting with the Stella Maris team was for the purpose of sustainability of the project. The TEP team suggests that there is a collaboration between the two institutions as Stella Maris is a Liberian institution and would easen the process if we have part of the project carried out in Liberia so as to promote continuity. Collaboration would also foster Liberians solving their problems by themselves. The Stella Maris Polytechnic is an Institution of higher learning owned and operated by the Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia. With its main campus situated on Capitol Hill in Monrovia the Polytechnic boasts of four colleges with over 2,500 enrollment. Stella Maris Polytechnic formerly Don Bosco Polytechnic received its Charter from the National Legislature on August 15, 1988. With the change of name to Stella Maris Polytechnic a Bill to amend the charter was presented to the National Transitional Legislative Assembly and was approved on November 18, 2005. Stella Maris Polytechnic is recognized by the Ministry of Education, Republic of Liberia, the Commission on Higher Education in the Republic of Liberia as a founding member of the Association of Liberian Universities (ALU) it accepts the credits, (within guidelines : please see Transfer students) from Cuttington University, United Methodist University, African Methodist Episcopal University, African Methodist Episcopal Zion University, and the University of Liberia. Due to the over-crowdedness of the undergraduate school, the University of Liberia presently accepts only students from Stella Maris Polytechnic for the graduate school.

5. Participant Participation and Motivation 5.1 There was a reasonably good attendance. At surface level participants took part actively ; asked questions, responded and showed interest. They asked for handouts. When we explained that it is not our practice to give handouts they were very attentive and took notes. We left hard copies of all presentations. The actual evidence of participation and motivation will be in their response to a school improvement project that was given to them on the last day. It is a small school improvement project. They were asked to give a brief profile of what they would like to improve in their schools or classrooms. They are to hand this in on whatsapp or email to the secretariat and this will then be sent to us. We will assign supervisors to this project. We will decide on the length of time for the projects when we receive them and have had time to study them. A clear disconnect between Principals and teachers and between teachers and students was evident in all discussions.

6. Achievement of the Visit The visit allowed us to see at first hand the extraordinary challenges facing the education sector. We knew beforehand that they had a problem with teaching materials and resources but not to the extent on the ground. The financial constraints and the fact that 80% of all goods are imported and that all transactions are done in the US dollar is information that we could only have gotten on the ground. The warmth of the people and their desire to provide education for their children made quite an impression. The interaction with staff in various UN bodies made it clear that a lot of state income comes from these bodies and is not generated by local industry. The first hand description of the initial colonization and of the wars that followed as well as the ebola crisis helped us to grasp the factors that have led Liberia to its dependence on outside help. The drive shown by father Varfee and the tenacity and capacity of Sr Grace Boro make it clear that any input in terms of training by SU will be implemented.

7. The Next Step

1. We twice asked Fr. Varfee what he needed most. On both occasions he answered : TRAINING. Our view is that it is worth running a program to give his entire office training in all aspects of their work.

2. Training of Trainers : Train a number of principals and teachers to train the teachers in their schools. Give the training to reliable people already in the schools such as the missionaries and people Fr Varfee considers reliable. To some extent this will be decided on by the number and quality of the small scale classroom project given during the visit. We need to train representatives from all the 3 dioceses. Consider a memorandum of understanding between SU and Stella Maris Polytechnic. Part of the training to be based in SMP and a larger portion in SU. Agree on a certificate design that would meet the requirements of both universities for this level.. 3. Get books and teaching resources to the schools. The quickest way to do this would be to collect books here in Kenya and ship them to Liberia. Fr Varfee believes he can get books in Liberia duty free. 4. Internet Costs. During the visit, we noticed internet costs are quite high and for there to be good communication between the team in Strathmore and educators in Liberia, we would need to sponsor their internet costs. The cost of electricity is also extremely high which leaves the majority of the institutions including the secretariat using generators which were unreliable for some time in the day as they would be switched off to save on energy.