The Bishop of the Independent Catholic Church of Liberia (ICCL), Nimely Jacbokly Donyen has urged graduates of the End-Time Reminder Ministries Academy (E-TIRMA) to diligently pursue their dreams.
He reminded them that High School Diploma is just the beginning of a solid academic journey saying that in order for them to succeed in life they must be humble and be focused.
Bishop Donyen who was delivering the keynote address at the third graduation program of E-TIRMA on Kru Hill, Johnsonville Township, District #2, Montserrado County, disclosed that a High School Diploma is not relevant for employment today, so the graduates should redouble their efforts and acquire higher education.
According to the Clergyman, education without the blessing of God is meaningless and as such, he told the graduates to always reverent God in their daily activities, adding that they should respect authorities including their parents and guardians and other members of society.
Bishop Donyen then admonished the 21 youthful graduates to be very careful as to how they make use of the social media because whatever they will write or say on it would have an impact on them positively or negatively in future.
Speaking further, the keynote speaker told the administration of the E-TIRMA to give the names of two students, a male and female so that he can sponsor them at the University of Liberia (UL) and he also promised to introduce a tuition reduction program at the school like the Cheerful Givers High School (CGHS) that he is presently operating in the district.
“At CGHS, parents pay minimum amount as school fees and the salaries of teachers come from abroad so as to reduce the financial burden on parents,” he said.
Bishop Donyen who has become famous in the district relative to carrying out several development projects informed the audience that he has many other projects that he has earmarked for implementation and intoned that some people have been blocking his projects from reaching the target beneficiaries like the safe drinking water project that was initiated by him. He then assured the public that all will be implemented in the future as he needs the support of the people.
Therefore, he pointed out that he is now doing small projects in the district like the construction of market buildings, bridges including sanitation amongst others and that when given the authority by the people he will undoubtedly do more for the people and the district at large.
“I will bring the same tuition reduction program to this institution so that the students of this community can also benefit,” he promised.
The valedictorian, David T. Bassie advised his colleagues not to give in to peer pressure because they need to prepare themselves so that they can help in the re-building process of the nation.
The principal of E-TIRMA, Mr. Prince G. Korboi encouraged the students to be the ambassadors of their alma mater and also urged the Government to provide subsidy for private and faith-based schools because they all are teaching the youths of the country.
“Let the government revisit the education act because the western concept of human rights is not favorable for the African setting as it leads to some of the students exhibiting bad behaviors on school campus,” he indicated.