Liberia: BWI Board Chair Wants School to Transition to Tech Education to Meet 21st Century Demands - FrontPageAfrica

Source: Front Page Africa

KAKATA, Margibi County -- Amid the global transformation of educational institutions to technology learning, the the Board of Governors of the Booker Washington Institute (BWI), Mr. Jonathan Paye-Layleh, want the school to equally transition to meet 21st century demands.

By Yawah Y. Jaivey , Contributing Writer

Mr. Paye-Layleh was recently appointed by President Joseph N. Boakai to represent the Office of the President of the Republic of Liberia in the capacity of Chair of the Board of Governors of the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) in Kakata, Margibi County.

Mr. Paye-Layleh recounted that BWI was established at the time the country was in desperate need of middle-level technicians and skills that the school has been offering are skills so many people are now doing outside in the streets.

"There should be a reason why people have to send their children here for four years and that reason should be when you leave the walls of BWI, you should be able to do what other people are learning on the side cannot do". He said.

His words: "In the 60s, 70s for example when you come here and spent four years you are happy to fix wheelbarrows, shovels, and racks because we did not have so many people doing these things and so it makes you an entrepreneur, but if those things done at BWI decades back are things other people are now doing on the streets means we need to elevate the learning system so people can see us as being in the 21st century".

Mr. Paye-Layleh said BWI will have to focus on education reform and change driven by the introduction of educational technology and upgrade the learning system to meet up with contemporary workforce demands and not be left behind in the technological world.

At the same time, the Chair, Ex-Officio of the Board of Governors of BWI implored the need for the new administration to provide staff with learning opportunities outside the country to acquire new knowledge to improve their skills as the school prepared to embark on technological education.

The BWI's Chair, Ex-Officio of the Board of Governors assertion was made over the weekend in Kakata, Margibi County at a day meeting held with staff and students.

He said the gathering was intended to notify the more than 400 employees of the school and students of the change in leadership at the school including the appointment of a new Principal and reconstitution of the Board of Governors.

Mr. Jonathan Paye-Layleh, announcing the appointment of the school's new Principal Dr. Nancy T. Freeman, clarified that the outgoing Principal Dr. Harris Fomba Tarnue was not dismissed as it's being insinuated.

"Sending someone to replace you because you have served an institution cannot be equated to being dismissed. What the president has done is simply to send a Liberian to succeed another Liberian who has served a Liberian institution to continue from where that person stopped." He asserted.

He, however, lauded Dr. Tarnue for the incredible work carried out at the institution since his ascendency, adding that the board and alumni association are proud of his accomplishments and could be counting on his expertise in moving their alma mater forward.

For his part, BWI's outgoing Principal Dr. Harris Fomba Tarnue recounted his ascendancy which was done on a merit basis through a vigorous and competitive vetting process by an independent committee instituted by then President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to hire the best mind to steer the affairs of the school.

He disclosed that with the exemption of his outstanding performance during the vetting process, he presented a comprehensive plan to the Civil Service Agency (CSA) which convinced the panel to accept him as the most knowledgeable contender for the job and subsequently forwarded his name to the Board of Governors who did their own evaluation and accepted his nomination.

"I came here at BWI with a roadmap bearing in mind what I wanted to achieve here and outlined them with a strategic planning session and revalidated those very proposals focusing on five strategic points in providing leadership here at the school." Dr. Tarnue recounted.

He divulged that to date most of the points are still valid, including the problem of financing the school, especially taking as a priority to increase the capacity of the institution to be able to generate additional revenues to uplift and augment the government's budgetary support.

Continuing, Dr. Tarnue added: "We agreed that it was important to continue to invest in staff development and capacity building; we agreed that it was important to focus on active and competitive students' recruitment and retention in making their stay here meaningful; we agreed that the infrastructures must be maintained and upgraded as additional infrastructures; and we agreed that we create a market-focused orientated moving toward the degree-granting institution."

Dr. Tarnue said an internal and external evaluation process graded the implementations of his strategic plan with high marks but only felt short in the area of internal revenue generation.

The out-going BWI's Principal Dr. Harris Fomba Tarnue lauded former Presidents Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and George M. Weah for allowing him to serve his Alma meter but reminded the ruling Unity Party-led government to stay within the confines of the rule of law and statute of BWI for its betterment.

"This school is a greater and perpetual institution; it will outlive all of us. Let's build on what we meet here. Our founding fathers meant well to establish BWI. We must keep building on what we meet here." Dr. Tarnue urged.