Liberia Education Programs

Liberia is a West African nation of 2.7 million persons occupying 42,989 square milesan area approximately equal in size to that of the State of Tennessee in the United States (Paxton, 1989, p. 802). The country's per capita gross national product of US$470 places it near to the bottom of the World Bank's (1989, p. 222) lower middleincome classification.

By the year 2000, Liberia's population is projected to reach 4.0 million. With unemployment high in the late1980s, the growing population represents a major threat to the country's fragile economy. While education is looked to as an answer to this problem, the literacy rate is only 35 percent, and school attendance rates are relatively low20 percent at the secondary level, and 50 percent at the primary level (World Bank, 1989, p. 262).

Education is viewed in most parts of the world as a means through which national goals may be met. Developing countries in particular tend to regard education as an instrument through which economic and modernization goals may be pursued effectively. In such situations, national goals tend to define the nature, purposes, and structure of the educational system. In

1 2 turn, these characteristics of the educational system exert a direct effect on teacher education programs.

Teacher education programs in Liberia are characterized by fragmentation and disarticulation. Special teacher training programs have been initiated to support a variety of donor

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tudes . . . essential to national development(Jackson, 1982, p. 1). The importance of education to national development demands the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and an effective educational system. Essential for an efficient and an effective educational system are the (1) acquisition and retention of qualified teachers, (2) development and maintenance of appropriate and adequate instructional materials, and (3) preparation of an adequate supply of qualified students for the several levels of the educational system. This study is significant, in that it examined the problems associated with teacher training in Liberia. This study is also important with respect to societal development. African countries in particular see education as a means of accelerating national integration because it isthought that education facilitates the breaking down of barriers associated with tribal, regional, and class differences. One way in which education is expected to fulfill this role is through the development of a common national language. Methodology, Data Collection, and Sources The principal activities involved in inquiry are (1) the identification and isolation of the problem, (2) the 6accumulation and classifi

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