By Gbatemah Senah
Last Wednesday, the acting minister of education, Latim Dathong, announced that the Partnership Schools for Liberia program has been renamed and restructured into the Liberia Educational Advancement Program to increase collaboration and accountability.
According to the ministry, LEAP would come into full swing this September with all seven original PSL providers renewing their contracts for the new school year (the eighth original provider, Stella Maris, was dropped from the program due to lack of performance).
PSL was first introduced in 2016 when George K. Werner became minister of education. The former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had then described the country’s education system as “a mess” after more than 25,000 candidates failed to pass the University of Liberia’s entrance exam. Upon taking office in 2015, Werner vowed to embark on a reform of the education system, changing it from “mess to best.” PSL was one of the reforms he implemented.
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A baseline report demonstrated that the program was making a positive impact on teachers, work behavior, and enrollment. Another report released by the Center for Global Development revealed that while PSL was costly to run, it raised student learning by 60 percent.
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