By Samuel G. Dweh
Writer, Author, Development Journalist (freelance), former president of Liberia Association of Writers (LAW)
+231886618906/776583266/ samuelosophy@yahoo.com, samuelosophy1@gmail.com
RECORD ON ERRORS:
The story from the Office of the Head of State—George Manneh Weah—has at least two grammatical errors, while the story from the Office of the Minister of Education have more than six grammatical errors.
Each of the Ministry of Education’s personal stories (written by the Ministry’s in-house writing experts) has at least six grammatical errors; at least two percent of them (four-five) have typographical errors; and one percent (three-four) have typographical/layout (graphics) errors.
Personal stories of each of the Magazine’s editors (written by himself) has at least four grammatical errors. The story (related to UNESCO) by Mr. Sam E. Hare, Jr. (Assistant Editor) is on page 96, while the story by the Editor-in-Chief (Charles Gbollie) is on page 112.
The story on Mr. Gbollie is about endorsement of his two books (non-fiction) to be used as “Supplementary Reading Texts for Literature”, a portion of MoE’s Center of Excellence for Curriculum Development and Textbooks Research revealed. However, I’m baffled by the MoE leadership’s selection wisdom: Picking a non-Literature book to be used as a “Literature Textbook”.
Stories from Government’s Agencies (Central Bank of Liberia, Ministry of Finance & Development Planning, National Commission on Higher Education, and International Bank (Liberia) Limited) have at least four grammatical errors each.
Public Relations stories on Liberians who benefitted from oversea scholarship programs—on financial gesture by Prof. Sonii-led MoE, President George M. Weah, or First Lady Mrs. Clar Marie Weah—have at least four grammatical errors each.
Stories from Liberia’s International Development Partners on education (America/USAID, The World Bank, United Nations Agencies) have at least two grammatical errors each. Some have typographical errors—probably from the Graphic Designer (the Magazine Layout person—hired by the Ministry of Education)
Added to the grammatical and spelling errors of spelling are typographical errors (called typing mistakes)
If you multiply the ‘minimum number of errors’ (three per page) by 104 (the number of pages with stories), you will arrive at 312 grammatical errors!
However, I decided to feature only Statement from the Office of the Head of Stage (H.E. George Manneh Weah); the “Special Message from the Minister”; stories on (some of the) Education Ministry’s Departments/Bureaus; stories written by each of the Magazine’s Editorial Board member; and stories from Liberian Government’s International Partners on education. I titled each story “Pick”, with a number attached to each “Pick”
My preference for this “partial selection”, as some readers may describe the selection, is based on two factors. The first is the ‘academically prominent status’ of the selected ones (holders of top university degrees).
The second factor is made up of the following: insufficient time for the Author to feature all the errors (even though I have marked them with my ink pen), my tight commercial writing and editing duties (writing stories and editing written works individual persons and institutions), and limited space in each of the newspapers use as channels for sharing this ‘tutorial article’ to the public (for debate about who got it right or wrong—the Ministry of Education’s editors or reader Samuel G. Dweh?)
For minimum number, I will feature one error. For maximum number of errors, I will feature four. Errors are placed in parenthesis or they are highlighted with uppercase (capital letters). On highlighting of each error, I captured part of the information (story’s heading or paragraph), indicated by three dots (…) before the faulty part.
My prior engagement (before producing this ‘tutorial article’) with the Ministry of Education’s officials on the errors: After reading the entire Magazine, I informed, via phone calls and phone-channeled message, the Minister of Education (Professor Dr. Dao Ansu Sonii, Sr.) and the Ministry of Education’s Communications Director (Mr. Maxim Bleetahn) about “several errors” in the Magazine.
Minister Sonii didn’t respond to my call or text message. Mr. Bleetahn replied to my concern: “The editor-in-chief of the Magazine you’re talking about has a PhD, and he’s a professional writer and author of books. I don’t think a person of such academic stature will produce substandard academic works like the ones you’re telling me about.”
Mr. Bleetahn is a member of the Editorial Team (on the back of the front page) Other members are: Charles Gbollie (PhD), Editor-in-Chief; Mr. Sam E. Hare, Jr., (Assistant) Editor, and Bro. (Mr.) Emmanuel Kuteh, Graphic Designer, Speedo Print (LIB.) Inc.
The article is made up of four components: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s outright condemnation of Liberia’s education system; Errors in the Magazine of George Manneh Weah-led Government’s Ministry of Education; factors of grammatically poor works from the Ministry of Education; and recommendations (solution methods)
ACADEMIC SELF-INTRODUCTION:
The writer of this article—a member of the Wedabo ethnic group, of Grand Kru County, located in southeastern Liberia—is a High School student (stopped at 12th grade since 1997 on Ghana’s refugee camp)…. He had tutored university degree holders on proper written and oral English (See About the Author at the end of this article) The power of reading!
The Author’s objectives, through this article, are: to destroy the myopic belief (held by majority of Liberian citizens) that a person with no university degree (like Samuel G. Dweh) can teach another person with a university degree (like the person who served as Editor-in-Chief of the Maiden Edition of the Ministry of Education’s Magazine); to inspire Elementary-High Students (and school drop-outs) to love reading so that they will teach university degree holders who don’t love reading or bought the degree; to challenge the Ministry of Education’s leadership to lead by example on producing quality works (Magazine, Newsletter, Press Release) and hire a person (even an outsider) with deeper knowledge of English grammar and spelling for future editions of the Ministry’s Magazine (the subject of this article), instead of the in-house (Ministry) grammarians whose editorial works have caused a national and international blunder (disgrace) on the maiden edition or to run a regular (weekly or monthly) tutorial program in English composition for editors of the Ministry’s Magazine; to advise the George Manneh Weah-led Government to practically (not only with words) revive the National Reading Program, initiated by the Government of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and financed by the United State Agency for International Development (USAID), and create a National Reading Ambassadorial Team (of Book Authors) to inspire grade-level students on reading and compositions; and to advise Liberia’s International Partners (The World Bank, USA, China, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc.) on promotion of “quality education” (Goal #4 of the United Nations Sustainable Development) to work through outstandingly experienced private Liberian educators (writers and oral English specialists) who are being excluded by the current Liberian Government or the Ministry of Education on “political reasons”.
BACKGROUND OF THIS WRITE-UP: LIBERIA’S “EDUCATION MESS” HIGHLIGHTED IN PRESIDENT ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF’S SPEECH
During her State of the National Address in 2015, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf described Liberia’s (entire) education system a “mess”. Some of the factors named by the Head of State as ‘proofs’ of her assertions were: Inability of majority of Elementary schools’ students on correctly reading a line in their Reading Book; bribery for grades/promotion in (most) Liberian High schools; many high school students’ inability to express themselves through logical written composition, and corruption (bribery) of university degree acquisition/issuance in many Liberian universities.
But three years earlier (2011), some of the “mess” (grammatical error) was in President Sirleaf’s Independence Day Speech. Here is the “mess”: “Created in 1964, the people of Lofa County are divided into the following ethnic groups, Lorma, Gbandi……” The speech was on Lofa County, the venue of the Independence Day celebration for that year.
The “mess” in the President’s written Speech is what grammarians called “grammatical disharmony”. In this case, it’s the “disagreement” between the Independent Clause (the second part of the sentence before the comma) and its Antecedent or Dependent Clause (the first part of the sentence after the punctuation mark) The rule of Grammar says: The antecedent should agree with its object in person, Number, and Case (Nominative Case, etc.) I was taught this in 9th grade class 27 years ago (1993) and I have “stored” it in my head since that time.
I, a 12th grader, tutored the President’s Speechwriter (a university degree holder) on the proper construction. During this time I was Proofreader at the Daily Observer newspaper (2011) The tutorial was published in the July 29’s edition of the paper—hard copy and online.
The Country’s “education mess” has trickled down to the presidency of George Manneh Weah. And like I did with President Ellen J. Sirleaf’s Independence Day Speech (written by somebody who bragged on possessing a Master’s degree or PhD in English Language), I also coached university degree-brandishing speechwriter of President George Manneh Weah’s Speech to the Seventy-fifth (75th) Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (2020).
The Speech was published in the INQUIRER Newspaper of Friday, September 25, 2020; page 9. Here’s the “mess” (grammatical error) in President Weah’s Speech: “…For example, our closure of schools in order to contain the COVID pandemic have seen an unprecedented recent increase”. Error: “closure…have…” The speechwriter didn’t have knowledge of the verb for a ‘singular noun’ being ‘has’; not ‘have’. The ‘have’ is a verb for a ‘plural noun’
Second “mess” in President Weah’s UN General Assembly Speech: “…In addition, we recently passed into law the Domestic Violence Act; a legal instrument that seeks to abolish all forms of violence meted out against women, children and men…”
The problem with this construction (in my tutorial): The semi-Colon (;) is the ‘wrong element’ in this construction. A comma (,) is the right element in this construction, because the second part of the sentence is a Dependent Clause.
My Grammar Lesson to the President’s Speech Writer was this: “The Semi-Colon, according to the rule of Grammar, is used only in a longer grammatical construction with two or more different thoughts (Sentences), each with an Independent Clause and Dependent Clause.
Example: George Manneh Weah is President of Liberia (Independent Clause), expected to speak on “Soccer” (Dependent Clause); Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa’s First Female Head of State (Independent Clause), tasked to speak on “Economics” (Dependent Clause)”
I circulated my tutorial article to all Liberia’s media institutions to share it with the global reading public, but only Smart News Liberia shared it. (You can access the article via www.smartnewsliberia)
THE MAIN ISSUES FOR THIS ARTICLE: MINISTRY OF EDUCATION’S MAGAZINE
The paper used for the Magazine is of high quality: glossy. The total number of pages is 128, with 24 pages occupied by pictures (pictorials) President George Manneh Weah occupies the front page and pages 1,2, 40, 83, 85 and 108.
The other pages are occupied by Other Ministries and Government Agencies (Liberia Revenue Authority, Central Bank of Liberia, etc) with their heads, the Ministry’s local partners (We-Care Foundation, Kids Education Empowerment Project—KEEP, etc.), and Liberia’s International Partners supporting Liberia’s education—The World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Food Programme (WFP), United Agencies (UNICEF, UNESCO,UNFPA, UNIDO, Mary’s Meals, Save the Children, etc.), and two European Countries: Germany (represented by German Cooperation) and Sweden
On the cover page, Head of State George Manneh Weah is in a speaking posture (his hand raised up few inches to his open mouth), with “Meet the Vision Bearer” under the photo. Above the President’s photo is this information: The Seal of Liberia (at the left-hand side of the reader) and the Ministry of Education’s Logo (at the right hand side) Between the Seal and the Logo is the information: “Republic of Liberia”, “Ministry of Education” (under the Republic of Liberia), and “Building Excellence in Education” Below this information is a group photo Education Minister Prof. Dr. Dao Ansu Sonii, Sr., some adults and students (kids)
At the back page, a grinning Minister of Education (Prof. Sonii) is staring into the distance (ahead), with “officials” of the Ministry in the background (behind the Minister) Below the Minister’s photo is a computer’s graphic image of what looks like a computer-produced “architectural plan” of Liberia’s Ministerial Complex (constructed by the Government of the People’s Republic of China during the presidency of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf), with address, e-mail contact and Facebook contact of the Ministry. Below the graphic work is the name of the Printing Press that produced the Magazine—“Speedo Print (Lib.) Inc” Below this information is what seems like the MoE’s ‘Credo’: “Education is the Key to a very successful life! Education brightens a nation. Education is everybody’s business”
1st Pick (Story): “From the President’s Office” (page 2) This write-up by Head of State George Manneh Weah.
Typographical error (in): “…to maximum (in) full potential” (third paragraph) You maximize (full potential), not “in full” potential” 2nd Pick (Story): “Special Message from the Minister” (page 6)
Error: “The greatest of honor bestowed on a person (,) is the opportunity to serve others” (first sentence)
Author’s tutorial: The presence of the comma (,) creates two “Sentence Fragments”. Definition: Sentence Fragments are two logically incomplete divisions in a written line (sentence) caused by presence of a comma at the wrong place (position)
Error: “…making Liberia’s education great again as it (were)…” (page 1, 3rd paragraph)
Author’s tutorial: The pronoun should be “was” because the subject is (“education”) is a singular noun. The possessive form (“Liberia’s”) have no bearing on the “number of words”
Error: “Taking (que) from local and international best practices….” (page 1, 4th paragraph)
Author’s tutorial: Based on the context of this sentence, a rational reader will know the Education Minister (Prof. Dr. Dao Ansu Sonii, Sr.) meant “following example” or “copying” (success stories of others) So, the right word is “cue” (English word), not “que” (French word)
Error: “…engagement in conducting a thorough diagnose (es)….” (page 1, 4th paragraph)
Author’s tutorial: The rule of grammar states: The subject following a definite article (a) should be a singular noun. Based on this grammatical rule, the subject should be “diagnosis” (singular noun), not “diagnoses”
Error: “Our inclusion on the President’s Team (,) certain borders on assurances that our roles shall be vital to the realization to this vision.”
Author’s tutorial: Sentence Fragments created here with the presence of the comma (,) I had explained Sentence Fragments earlier.
3rd Pick (Story): “About the Ministry of Education” (page 12)
Error: “…Ministry of Education works with local and international partners as well (3rd paragraph) as…”
Author’s Tutorial: The phrase “as well as”, in any sentence, is a Dependent Clause. So, it should be separated from the Independent Clause (“Ministry of Education works with local and international partners”)
4th Pick (Story): “MoE at Mid-Term: Key Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities (page 18)
Error: “…this administration, like many others, inherited a challenging system as effort to get the Liberian education to where it ought to be(,) continue unabated” (first paragraph)
Author’s Tutorial: The last comma (,) in this construction is unnecessary because no modifying/qualifying phrase is in the sentence. Meaning of a modifying phrase: An extra information about the subject of a sentence, which isn’t in the construction.
Example: If a writers wants to tell his/her reader that the Minister of Education now speaking often giggles whenever he is speaking at a public function, the writing will go like this: “The Minister of Education, who often giggles anytime he’s speaking at a public function, is speaking again.”
Error: “It was requested for by the Ministry of Education.” Author’s Tutorial: The rule of Grammar says two prepositions—“for” and “by”—should not be used together in a sentence.
5th Pick (Story): “Good News for Liberian Secondary School Students” (page 22) Error: “The objective (of is)…” (Second paragraph, page 25). Author’s Tutorial: Use of preposition (of) and verb (is) in succession is grammatically wrong. This is a typographical error; a competent proofreader should have seen this.
Error (break up of a paragraph into two ‘paragraphs’—typographical/page layout error): “To ensure that the scholarship recipients have immediate access to funds to coincide with the due date of school fees and uniforms need to be purchased. To minimize further risks to girls and
young women….”
Author’s Tutorial: The Ministry of Education’s Communications Department should not scan through the MoE’s materials on a commercial printer’s computer; it should thoroughly read through any written information for the Magazine.
Error: omission of meaning of initials/acronyms (words formed from initials)—MGCSP, EPAG, SEA, GBV. (4th paragraph, page 26). Author’s Tutorial: Writing the full meaning of initials or acronym is a form of “education”—for living-outside-of-Liberia readers who do not know what these initials or acronyms mean.
6th Pick (Story): “MoE Intensifies Training Activities” (page 29). Error: “The training activities, which were carried out in five Clusters () brought together….” (3rd paragraph, page 29). Author’s Tutorial: A modifying phrase (extra information to the main construction) should be placed in two commas (opening comma and closing comma) So, another comma (closing one) should have been inserted where I placed the parenthesis (to call attention)
7th Pick(Story): “Delivering Quality Education in Emergency” (page 36). Error: “The project was officially be launched…” Author’s Tutorial: The word “be” is grammatically odd in this sentence, especially where the word “was” is present. A proper construction is: The project will be launched, or the project was launched 8th Pick (Story): “GoL Puts Smiles on the Face of Private School Teachers” (page 40) (Photo of President George Manneh Weah used)
Error: “…they were not (been) paid” (5th paragraph. )Author’s Tutorial: The word “been” is a verb, which grammatically disqualifies it for this construction. The right word is “being” (noun), which indicates the private teachers’ condition (not getting reward for their services)—a noun.
Error: “The Liberian Government (aor) coming to their aid” (7th paragraph)
Author’s Tutorial: There is no “aor” as a word in the English Language. Is the Ministry of Education or the Editorial Board of the Ministry’s Magazine introducing a “new word” into the English Language?
9th Pick (Story): “MoE Departments/Bureaus’ Highlights” (page 44)
Error: The Possessive Case (‘) in the story heading. The reader doesn’t know whether the possessive case is for the “Departments” or “Bureaus”. Author’s Tutorial: The rule of grammar on use of the Possessive Case says: A sentence on two subjects should be restructured to avoid a confusion caused by presence of a Possessive Case. Based on this rule, the story’s headline should have been restructured this way: “Highlights of MoE’s Departments/Bureaus”
Error: “…and bureaus that champion the forward (match)….” Author’s Tutorial: The word “match” used by the MoE’s writing expert or endorsed by the Editorial Team of the Magazine means “pair”. The right word is “March”—meaning “movement”
10th Pick (Story): “Fiscal Affairs and Human Resources” (page 46)
Error: “To date, 620 have been enrolled in the pension payroll () while the remaining are (been)…”
Author’s Tutorial: The part of the sentence beginning from “while” is a Dependent Clause, so should have begun with a comma (,) The word “been” is a grammatical blunder—similar to the one under the story titled “GoL Puts Smiles on the Faces of Private School Teachers” I had dealt with.
(See above)
11th Pick (Story): “Securing Donor Funding and Project Implementation” (page 47) Photo: Minister of Education; logos: The World Bank, European Union, and United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF)
Error: “…modernized 6 TVET institutions to a 21st century state of the art institutions”
Author’s Tutorial: Globally, there is dash (-) between “state” and “of”, another dash between “of” and “the”, and another dash between “the” and “art”
Error: “…fifty (50) students will be admitted into the program who will…”
Author’s Tutorial: The position of the “who” (subjective pronoun) makes “program” the subject of the sentence. Grammatically, “program” can’t be “who”, because it’s an inanimate thing (doesn’t have life) and can’t be “doer of an action” (attribute of an animate thing)
12th Pick(Story): “Department of Instruction” (page 48) Featured photo: Hon. Alexander Duopu, Deputy Minister, Department of Instruction”
Error: “…is led by the Deputy Minister, with assistance from assisted by five Assistant Ministers…” (1st paragraph)
Author’s Tutorial: The portion “assistance from assisted by” makes this construction grammatically irrational. Advice (education): Use the latter: “assisted by”
12th Pick: “Teacher Education” (page 49)
Error: “Under the Department of Instruction. The Bureau of Teacher Education has two (2) division;….”
Author’s Tutorial: For listing of things in the same set or body of persons in an organization, the colon (:) is used; —not a semi colon (;) Example: The Ministry of Education is advertising the following vacancies for its Magazine (Education Mirror): information (materials) collator, editor-in-chief, competent proofreader, and Corel Draw specialist.
13th Pick (Story): “Improving Access, Quality and Relevance of Basic & Secondary Education” (page 55) Featured photo: Hon. Felecia Sackey Doe-Sumah, Assistant Minister, Bureau of Basic and Secondary Education.
Error: “…the project is to reduce the country’s overage and (out of school) children population”. Author’s Tutorial: In grammar study, the portion in parenthesis (inserted by reader Samuel G. Dweh, for highlighting the error) is called “compound-letters word”. Based on this rule, the component parts should be highlighted with dashes (-) between each component word: out-of-school…(continue the sentence)
14th Pick (Story): “School Operational Permits Notice” (page 68)
“The Ministry of Education and Liberia Revenue Authority anticipate the full cooperation of all school operators in compliance with”
Error: Incomplete paragraph. This creates ‘illogical flow’ of the writer’s thought.
15th Pick (Story): “NATIONAL COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION” (page 69)
Error: “…A scholar, an educator, and a civil servant, Dr. Wonkeryor’s career has combined academia with service…”
Error: The antecedent (“A scholar…”) doesn’t agree with its object (Dr. Wonkeryor) grammatically, this construction is saying the “career” is the “scholar, civil servant…” instead of the “person” (Dr. Wonkeryor)
Author’s Tutorial: The sentence should have been written this way: A scholar, an educator, and a civil servant, Dr. Wonkeryor has combined academia with service…(continue the sentence)
16th Pick (Story): “UL, Sierra Leonean University Sign MoU for Academic Collaboration” (page 70) Featured photo: University of Liberia’s president, Dr. Julius Nelson
Error: Dependent Clause problem: “…the establishment of a doctoral program as their priority interests in the partnership while the Njala University…” Author’s Tutorial: According to the rule of Grammar, these words—‘even though’, ‘but’, and ‘while’—make up a Dependent Clause (part of a sentence that does not make a complete though; relies on the Main/Independent Clause); they should c
Example: The Liberian University and the Sierra Leonean University expressed their interests in the academic collaboration (Independent Clause), while (beginning of a Dependent Clause) president of one of the collaborating Universities emphasized mutual respect during the implementation stages of the collaboration.
17th Pick (Story): “HIGHLIGHTS ON USAID SUPPORTED PRGRAMS” (page 88) Featured photo: Mr. Tim Wright, USAID (United States Agency for International Development) Liberia Mission Director
Error: “The USAID AQE () in collaboration with the Ministry of Education () operated a five-years program…”
Error: Appositive Phrase problem: Omission of grammatically needed opening and closing commas (, ,) around the modifying information (“in collaboration with the Ministry of Education”) Author’s Tutorial: The rule of Grammar states: The Appositive Phrase (the extra information that provides more details to the main subject) should be placed in two commas.
Another error (in the first paragraph): “a five years-program…” Author’s Tutorial: The rule of Grammar states: No “s” should be added to a noun (“year”) in a Compound- Adjective. Right: a five-year project.
Error: “…and dropout students in selected public schools () Bong, Nimba, Lofa, Grand Bassa…” Author’s Tutorial: Preposition (in) missing where I inserted a parenthesis (to show the error spot)
Error (verbosity): “…(supplies) were also (supplied)”. Author’s Tutorial: Verbosity is using more words than needed; wordiness: Supplies (noun)…supplied (verb)
18th Pick (Story): “Statement from USAID Liberia Mission Director, SARA WALTER” Featured photo: Madam Sara Walter (ex-) USAID Liberia Mission Director
Error: “…Liberians 12th Graders…” Author’s Tutorial: The rule of Grammar states: No “s” should be added to an adjective (“Liberian”) describing a noun (“12th Graders”)
Error (Incomplete paragraph): “…the stipend directly () them prepared for…”
Error (unnecessary words paring) “…them prepare for ad sit their exams…”
19th Pick (Story on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization—UNESCO (page 96) by Mr. Sam E. Hare, Jr. (Editor of the Ministry of Education’s Magazine—under critical review by reader Samuel G. Dweh)
Error: “The…(UNESCO) (,) was founded”. Author’s Tutorial: Insertion of the comma (highlighted in parenthesis by reader Samuel G. Dweh) creates Sentence Fragments (two incomplete thoughts)
Errors: “…the purpose for associating its (principle) bodies…” Author’s Tutorial: Wrong choice of word by the writer. The selected word, principle, means “acting in accordance with”. Right choice: principals. Meaning: “main parts” (of UNESCO)
Error: “…to make them (computer literacy)…” Author’s Tutorial: The right is (computer-literate)
Error: “…E-Library and Community Reading Room in (Buchan)…” Author’s correction: The right spelling is Buchanan (capital of Grand Bassa County)
Error: “(Developed of a) comprehensive policy…” Author’s Tutorial: Developed a… (Complete sentence)
20th Pick (Story): “MoE Approves 3 Motivational Books as Supplementary Readers” (112) Featured photo: Charles Gbollie (PhD), Editor-in-Chief of “Education Mirror” (Magazine of the Ministry of Education)
Error (Appositive Phrase): “…The Ministry of Education () through its Center of Excellence for Curriculum and Textbook Research () has approved three mind expansion…” The modifying information (“through its Center of Excellence for Curriculum and Textbook Research”) isn’t placed in commas (grammatical rule)
Error: “…inspirational words of wisdom and (advise)…” High School student Samuel G. Dweh’s Tutorial: The right word is “advice” (noun), not “advise” (verb)
Reader Samuel G. Dweh’s concern: Why did the Education Ministry’s Leadership placed non-Literature books (by) as “Literature Textbooks” into the National Teaching Curriculum? The Author works in the “Ministry of Education’s Consultancy Department”, another MoE official told me when I was going through the Magazine.
FACTORS OF GRAMMATICALLY POOR WORKS FROM THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
There are several factors, but I will mention three, considering time and space limitation in a newspaper for this article.
The first is faulty oral English (pronunciations and enunciations by teachers) at the grade school levels and in universities in Liberia. Majority of Liberian writers use words (wrongly) in their writings on the sound they heard come out of their teachers’ mouths.
The second factor is perception (shared by majority of Liberians) that a person who possess a university degree in English Language can’t blunder in grammatical composition (Similar to the defense of MoE’s Communications Director, Mr. Maxim Bleetahn for the Editor-in-Chief of this Magazine being his response to my expressed concern of several errors in the Magazine)
The third factor is majority of university degree holders’ impatience on reading extensively to have deeper knowledge in grammar and spellings.
RECOMMENDATIONS—SOLUTION METHODS FOR THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION TO PRODUCE AN ERROR-FREE MAGAZINE NEXT TIME.
The Leadership of the Ministry of Education should organize an in-house grammar and spelling knowledge sessions for the Ministry’s writers and editors for the “Education Mirror”
The MoE’s Leadership should hire outsiders (non-MoE staff) with deeper knowledge in grammar and spellings to edit or proofread written works and to read the graphically structured work on the Graphic Designer’s computer, before sending the work is sent to a Printing Press. I, Samuel G. Dweh (professional writer, author of books, and experienced commercial editor) is available to assist.
The Government of Liberia, of George Manneh Weah, should practically reactivate the National Reading Campaign (NRC) of Liberia, created by his predecessor (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf) in 2013 and hugely sponsored by the Government of the United States of America through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The objective of the NRC (a national reading-promotion project) is to inspire reading culture at the educational foundation level (3rd Grades-6th Grades) to trickle to the higher grade levels (9th Grade-12th Grade), and to land at the advanced educational level (university or Tertiary Institutions)
CONCLUSION
Possession of university degree doesn’t determine your being “educated”. Your being educated is seen in your excellent academic production—writing or editing.
About the Author
READING POWER!
This Liberian
Stopped at 12th grade (High School) in 1997, but he has the following academic records:
Taught President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s speechwriter (2011) and President George Manneh Weah’s speechwriter (2020) on right grammatical constructions;
Honored by Chinese Embassy on “pictorial article” (2016)
Produced personal Books: {Grade Sin), (Naija), (Gbayloteh’s Peace Award), (The Ebola Dribble) (replace with book’s cover) and has manuscripts of many more Books to be out soon;
Wrote Books for university-degree holders—Nigerians and Liberians (2008-2020)
Produced the highest number of nation-building feature articles (commentaries) in Liberian Media industry (2011 to current time);
Won “Development Journalist of the Year Award in Press Union of Liberia’s “Media Excellence Awards” (2018);
Wrote Books and Thesis for university graduates;
Singled-handedly produced a 12-page education newspaper (wrote and edited all stories)—six different editions;
Had served in all the positions—Reporter, Proofreader/Copy Editor, News Editor, and Editor-in-Chief in the Newsroom of seven Liberian newspapers (2011-2015), including Liberia’s oldest independent newspaper—Daily Observer (2011);
Became president of Liberia’s oldest writers’ body—Liberia Association of Writers (LAW) in 2017;
Has tutored the Ministry of Education on “English grammar” and “correct spelling” (wrongly done in the Ministry’s Magazine)–2022
Many more reading-based achievements (past and current)
If you (looking at this information) read much, you will do what this Liberian did and is doing—in spite of your below-university-education academic status.
