By Precious D. Freeman
The West Point Women for Health and Development Organization (WPWHDO), in collaboration with the British Government through its Embassy in Liberia has ended a grant agreement to promote quality education for Liberian girls.
The just ended project supported and facilitated girls acquiring 12 years of quality education in the country, mainly those who dropped out of school as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic or pregnancy.
The agreement was signed under the project, titled, Promoting Girls’ Quality Education for Gender Equality.”
The Executive Director for WPWHDO, Nelly S. Cooper, said that the project’s aim was to encourage the next generation of women to be able to take on the mantle by going to school.
According to her, the organization introduced this project because they noticed that after the Covid-19 pandemic lots of girls got pregnant and could not go back to school because of some financial reasons.
“We are trying to encourage the girls who have dropped out of school because of pregnancy and have become baby mothers, for them to remain in school and complete their education. Some of us were baby mothers going to school and we remained there and completed our education; today we are helping society,” she said.
“In order to help the situation, we decided to invite our partner for assistance which was granted and the support benefited about 100 girls today,” she said.
Madam Cooper added that all appreciation goes to the British Embassy who helped them continue what they have started in the past during the heat of the COVID-19.
However, WPWHDO boss also appreciated the students for taking the opportunity seriously in making sure that they were all able to go back to school.
She, at the same time, thanked the Superintendent of the Monrovia Consolidated School System (MCSS), the DEO Greater Monrovia District 2 and all of the teachers that helped in teaching the girls to get a greater future.
Speaking further, the Deputy Head of Mission and Development Counselor at the British Embassy, Kate Thomson, thanked the Executive Director of WPWHDO for implementing such a project intended to help promote girls’ education.
She mentioned that the British Embassy supported the project in order to ensure that every girl in the world gets at least 12 years of quality education.
According to her, the support of girls’ education is a number one priority in their foreign policy and vision for their government.
She stated that beneficiaries have the right to quality education, whether they experienced pregnancy or not, or are encountering any difficult circumstances.
“If girls are not educated there will be more conflict, violence, poverty, illness, and diseases. It is not just your right, but you need that quality education. I was lucky to get 12 years of quality education, which has created so many opportunities for me in the world. And I want the same to happen to you. That was why the British government financed this project,” she said.
She believes that the more girls are educated, the more society will develop, become richer and more peaceful.
Also making remarks, the Special Assistant office of the Superintendent, Harriet H. Gwesa, lauded the British Embassy for the grant support provided to WPWHDO in order to benefit Liberian girls.
She added that Liberia will be great not because of men but because of women, and that an educated woman will resist her child joining an extreme movement.
Madam Gwesa also encouraged the girls to continue their studies and not be distracted because it pays for women to learn in order to teach her family.
In separate remarks, the District Education Officer Hannah K.F Saywrayne and the beneficiaries applauded the British Embassy for their support and recommended that the grant be extended to other girls in the rural areas.
