Liberia 🇱🇷: National Commission on Higher Education, Latest Three years in Review.

 

The management of the Liberian education system has always been and continues to be a daunting task, due to the lack of adequate financial and logistical support to the Ministry of Education (MoE) and its collaborating entities, including the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE).

It is well documented that the NCHE was founded in 1989 and that it is responsible to regulate and play a catalyst role for positive change and innovation for the delivery of quality university education in the country. But, this reflection is intended to weigh in on what the Commission can so far boast of in the past three years, beginning 2018, the accompanying challenges and, the promising future.

 

In a few weeks or months back, the Daily Observer and some other media outlets reported on the attempt by Senator Henrique Tokpah from Bong County to nullify the existence of the Commission through the enactment of a legislation and bring in its stead, the ministry of higher education as it is done in some African countries and elsewhere outside Africa.

For the record, Sen. Dr. Henrique Tokpah was President of Cuttington University (CU), the country’s second oldest university and he has been in the corridor of the education sector for decades prior to ascending to the Legislative seat.

He comes with a wealth of experience and understands the underlying factors responsible for the challenges within the education sector but, again, his call for a new ministry has met lots of mixed reactions, and to say it bluntly, resistance from his peers and many others on ground that the country lacks the financial mean to create a new ministry that would need structures with equal compelling demands.

Other reports have been development related, including the efforts made by the NCHE to get Liberian universities, colleges and grade schools on par with others in the subregion and overseas, mainly the United States of America, Great Britain, among others.

Let’s take a look at the NCHE from 2018/2019 fiscal year to 2020/2021 fiscal year; appropriations to it and what has or have been accomplished as well as what could or may not be accomplished:

Fiscal year 2018/2019

In this period under review, the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) had thirty nine (39) universities and colleges to supervise, accredit, and regulate and the membership of its staffs at the secretariat was thirty (30) while the budget from central government for its operations was US$313,814.00.

Fiscal Year 2019/2020

In this period under review, the number of universities and colleges became forty six (46) but the membership of the workforce remained the same. The same thirty staffs, including the director general had to do the work a lot more members of same qualified tecnicians and academics could do.

For its budget, it did not increase neither remain as it was in the previous fiscal year but dropped. The amount of US$285,812.00 was allotted for the function of the Commission, even though the number of higher institutions of learning increased.

This means, a deduction of US$28,002 was made, thereby leaving countless unanswered questions for a system that needs vibrancy and swiftness in its move to correct the already announced and known mess it is said to account for.

Fiscal Year 2020/2021

This shocked even more rather than corrected the previous challenges. Instead of growth in budgetary allocation, a further decline was experienced. More challenging also was the reduction of the size of the workforce from thirty to twenty six, even though the number of institutions of higher learning grew up to fifty three (53).

The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) appropriated and submitted US$172,455.00 for operations, salaries and metenance of the NCHE.

In calculation, a difference of US$141,359 between 2018/2019 and 2020/2021 is reported while US$113,357 stands out as the difference between 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

There is an increase in the number of universities and colleges but a more reduction in the Commission’s budgetary allotment and its staffs.

Is Liberia on its way to accomplishing any of the modern golden rules of quality service delivery and international recognition? The answer is obvious but it is with the pundits and, mainly those with the political will to change the narrative.

To run a robust and viable education system needs lots of support, mainly in funds and workforce. There is no way a credible monitoring would go on when there are no up to date logistics and enough competent manpower, well paid, to do the job.

The NCHE is understaffed and needs additional staff for proper supervision, monitoring, and quality control of the learning programs. There is a growing need for monitoring as the number of institutions increases.