A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

• With regard to rural teachers, the
Government of Liberia should take
steps to accommodate their situation, for
example, through the provision of free or
subsidized housing, payment of travel and
moving expenses, and provision of travel
expenses to maintain their professional
qualifications. 331
• The Government of Liberia should
prioritize the recruitment, selection,
training, and retention of teachers in
Liberia. The Advocates recommends that
the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation
concerning the Status of Teachers and the
1997 U.N. Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organisation Recommendation
concerning the Status of Higher Education
Teaching Personnel serve as the guiding framework with regard to this issue. In particular,
the Government of Liberia should:
o Provide adequate spots for training teachers and incentives to complete teacher
certification; 332
o Require completion of secondary school and the teacher training institute to
teach in Liberia, recognizing there may be exceptions for persons who possess
valuable experience, especially in vocational and technical areas; and 333
o Work toward the creation of more teacher training institutions. To this end, refer
particularly to the guidelines in the Teacher Preparation Programmes and Teacher
Preparation Institutions sections of the ILO/UNESCO Recommendation
concerning the Status of Teachers. 334
• The Government of Liberia should identify strategies and implement programs and curricula
for technical and vocational education designed for young people and adults, within the
framework of their respective education systems. Such programs should enable them to
acquire the knowledge and skills “essential to economic and social development as well as to
461
Chapter Fourteen
Potential Implementation Strategy:
Scaled Salaries for Teachers
The Kosovo government increased salaries
for all teachers, varying those increases
according to education credentials; the range
of increases spanned from up to 22% for
teachers with certification from a teachers’
college to up to a 47% increase for masters
and Ph.D. level educators. 329 Also, one agency
coordinated the range of training initiatives
launched by non-governmental organizations,
communities, and agencies so as to provide
clarity regarding the options and also to assist
the Ministry of Education in developing its
teacher training policy. 330
Potential Implementation Strategy: Increase Female Representation in the Teaching Profession
Take active steps to increase recruitment and retention of females to the teaching profession. The
Women’s Commission on Refugee Women and Children notes that this will require increasing female
enrollment that stems largely from low enrollment of girls in higher primary and post-primary grades. 335
Thus, implementing recommendations related to education of the girl child is essential to achieving this
goal.