Wednesday, June 19, 2013 02:45 
LET Holds Workshop For Partners...Observes Lack Of Female Teachers
Story by Garmonyou Wilson
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Liberia is perhaps in the forefront in the advancement of women and girls in Africa, but a recent survey has revealed that about 80-90% of teachers in the country are males. This is alarming for a country who has struggled for the rights of women and girls.
Students would better relate to teachers that are of the same sex; females would easier relate to another female with problems than that of a male teacher. But with one out of every 100 teachers in Liberia being a female means that with all the other causes of why girls drop out of schools are more than boys.
It is known throughout the country that many Liberian girls drop out of school before 6th grade while a large number of males drop out before they reach the 10th grade. The major cause of the high dropout rate in the country usually has to do with teenage pregnancy and/or poverty. However the low number of female teachers seems to be another cause of the low performance of female students.
Working for the improvement of female students in Liberia, the Executive Director of the Liberian Education Trust (LET), Hester Catakaw said that's why their story at LET is not a success.
LET a privately sponsored organization established in 2006 by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf prioritizes education for girls and women throughout the country, with scholarships and learning materials.
Madam Catakaw said that LET plans to meet with Ministry of Education officials to have counselors, especially female ones in schools around the country so that female students can have someone at the school in which they could talk to.
Speaking yesterday to this paper at the start of a three-day workshop on Strengthening LET Partners Capacity in Report Writing and Monitoring, she said that the workshop was to reinforce the knowledge of LET's 14 partners across the country who help the organization reach more women and girls in Liberia to stay in school. Currently some 1000 girls throughout Liberia are benefitting from LET.
