The_Open_Door_deel1

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Author's research based on the National Education Survey,
1978, Table XX (p.71-a).
322 from wells. Only 173 schools had flushed toilets -
particularly in Monrovia - whereas 762 schools (over 50$) had pits
and 48 schools had the pail sjsOteni.
Especially in a school in a tropical country such as Liberia it
is not a luxury to have some type of (safe) drinking water
available. However, the decisions made with respect to Education,
more specifically investments in the educational system of the
country, were characterized by a lack of priority. Particularly
during the second half of the 1970's the investment of public
funds in prestige-projects overshadowed the nearly crying need
for improvement of the educational and health systems which the
majority of the Liberian people had at their disposal. The
purchase of an over $ 14 million Boeing 737 - which should
facilitate President Tolbert's travelling around the globe -
shows better than anything the governing political elite's (real)
interests (74). The costs of the plane even exceeded the
Aggregate Budget for Elementary, Secondary, and Teacher Education
(75) and wa s almost equal to Liberia's Health Budget for that
Fiscal Year (1977/78) (76)~
Basic health facilities of the country's schools being poor, the
situation with respect to physical educational facilities and
equipment proved to be as alarming and depressing.
Most schools and students, for example, had to do without school
libraries. There were only 159 schools libraries (there were 299
junior and senior high schools) but even the former figure may
give an unrealistic impression. The saddening reality is that
though many schools claimed to have a library they indicated at
the same time that they were seriously understocked with
relevant and up-to-date books (77). Further, only one out of
every five high schools (63 out of 299) was equipped with a
science laboratory. Science, however, was a required subject in
the schools' curriculum.
Virtually no laboratory had a supply of chemicals and/or other
laboratory equipment; 16 of the laboratories had not been
supplied with chemicals at all. In these circumstances it is
still surprising that 35 laboratories were reported to be used
daily, 23 once a week, and 5 twice a month. The low priority and
vocational courses at high school level explains why only 38
schools (out of the 299) had workshops for technical and
vocational courses. Workshops for industrial arts were even fewer
than those for technical/vocational courses: only 23 schools, or
less than 8$, had them (78).
Given the quality of education provided, the high rate of
untrained teachers, the absence or inadequacy of much needed
facilities, the impossibility for most students to acquire
textbooks, and the fact that most students had to learn English