By Grace Q. Bryant
A Civil Society Organization, under the banner, “Education Budget Advocacy Coalition”, sponsored by USAID/Civil Society Activity-CSA, has presented a petition to the House of Representatives Education Committee seeking a 20 percent increment in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 education budget.
Addressing the committee on behalf of the collaborating organizations during a roundtable discussion on Monday at Capitol Hill, the CEO of Youth Movement for Collective Action- UMOVEMENT, Urias W. Brooks, said the Liberian Government, in alignment with its commitments under the Incheon Declaration of 2015 and the Dakar Framework of 2000, pledged to allocate a minimum of 20 percent of the national budget to the education sector.
CEO Brooks said despite witnessing a gradual increase in the Liberian education sector budget in recent years, rising from 12 percent in FY 2023 to 16 percent in the FY 2024 draft budget, the government has struggled to fulfill its obligations.
According to him, stakeholders have deeply recognized the pressing necessity for transformative policies to tackle critical issues concerning school supplies, teacher remuneration, educational infrastructure, early childhood education, and bolstering budgetary support to local education offices in the education sector.
The group believes that the petition aims to offer a concise overview of the challenges and set the groundwork for advocating for effective solutions and heightened budgetary allocations to 20 percent in FY 2024 budget.
For his part, the House’s Chair on Education, Representative Thomas Romeo Quioh, on behalf of the committee, lauded the collaborating organizations for the path of dialogue in their advocacy.
Representative Quioh vowed to submit the petition to plenary for preceding further action.
Meanwhile, the gathering was attended by other members of the Education Committee, including Representatives Jacob Debee, Eugene Kollie, Nyan Flomo, and Frank Saah Foko.
Others in attendance were the Director for Teacher’s Education at the Ministry of Education, Saywalla Jallah; Monrovia Consolidated School System Representative, Isaac Saye-Lakpoh Zawolo, and students of the William V.S. Tubman High School, among others.
