HARPER, Maryland − With less than one month to schools reopening for the 2024/2025 academic year, Harper Demonstration Public High School stands a slim chance of opening because its porous roof is unsuitable to host students during the rainy season.
Its principal, Emmanuel Y. Dennis, called for quick government intervention to avoid keeping more than 700 students out of school in the coming school year.
He said the facility he inherited in the 2022/2023 school year when he took over as principal has worsened, and local education stakeholders were fully aware of it.
Although Dennis said he has reached out to many prominent citizens in the county, help has not arrived, except from the school’s Parents and Teachers Association, which raised funds to purchase metal roofing sheets to repair leaks. In the past, he said the PTA has also helped purchase instructional materials and office furniture and has helped fund volunteer teachers at the school.
However, the PTA’s efforts may not be enough, Dennis warned: “The zinc bought over the years roofed portion of the building, but as we speak, the salt wind has damaged it. We are very close to Lake Shepard and not far from the Atlantic Ocean. Salt wind is also a major problem for us, especially the quality of zinc normally used for roofing of this building.”
When students begin classes in September, the rainy season will be in full effect. On average, it rains 24 out of the 30 days in September. The school’s entire roof requires repairs, meaning it’ll be uninhabitable for students at the start of the school year.
“I am still hopeful that the government will come in to help,” the principal said.
When Education Minister Jarso Jallah and her delegation visited Maryland during their assessment tour of educational facilities across the country, she did not meet with principals of schools in the county. Instead, some education insiders who only spoke anonymously for fear of being reprimanded revealed that the minister and her delegation only met with the county and district education officers.
Dennis himself confirmed this: “The minister’s visit and interaction with our local education leaders was done behind closed doors. Former education ministers visited this place where we held an open meeting. In my mind, they don’t want to see the sector improve in this country.”
He called for the government to constitute a new team to assess schools. He suggested that the minister should not be a part of that team, as praise seekers would likely conceal the most important details from her.
Harper Demonstration Public High School was established in 1957 as an elementary school until 2020/2021, when it was elevated to a junior high. In 2023/2024, the 10th grade was added, and the school was poised to be elevated to 11th grade during the new school year.
The school is not the only one in dire need of renovations before the start of the academic year. In River Cess, public school principals are threatening to shut down for the year if their facilities do not improve.
The Bush Chicken reached out to Maryland’s county education officer, Emmanuel Toe, but he did not respond to calls. However, Education Minister Jallah acknowledged the poor conditions of public schools across the country, saying it is one of the many challenges her leadership inherited. She said there were efforts underway to mitigate them.
One of those efforts includes allowing all fees collected by public schools to stay with the schools to help with carrying out minor renovations and the acquisition of basic instructional materials. Previously, schools would have to remit those funds to the ministry.
“No school fees transfer will be made to the ministry via mobile money payment for all government schools,” she said. Jallah added that strict measures would be put in place to ensure accountability of the funds.
Education Minister Jarso Jallah. Photo: George K. Momo.
Jallah also noted that the government was pushing to keep public schools affordable for students by limiting school fees to L$3,500 (US$18.42), for early childhood education, L$1,000 (US$5.26) for elementary education, L$2,000 (US$10.52) for junior high, and L$3,000 (US$15.78) for grades 10-12.
Davide G.K Wallace of Kids TV Liberia, based in Harper, Maryland, contributed to this article. Featured photo courtesy of David G.K. Wallace
