Dr. Jarso Maley Jallah: – Clad In Boots to Pull Decadent Education System out of Messy Valley

MONROVIA – That many Liberians have given up on the declining quality of their country’s education is inarguable. In recent years, parents and guardians sending their children and wards out of the country to Rwanda, for instance, for a college or postgraduate studies has reached competitive proportion.

Many continue to lament the sluggishness of the Liberian school system, in part evidenced by the poor performance of students and teachers, not just in international exams but also in practice, outside of the walls of schools.

The takeover of the system, the appointment of Dr. Jarso Maley Jallah last year as Education Minister, is changing the dynamics and public perception about education in the country, given the huge passion, the deliberate intention, the methodical and proficient engagement. With a “boots on the ground” style of leadership, many are convinced she brings clarity, force and results to the hitherto decadent sector.

Her zest for clean and effective institution made her to double down on her message of transparency and accountancy, on thievery, which has long bedeviled the Ministry of Education, one of Liberia’s all-time chronically corrupt and opaque institutions.

That’s while, upon ascendency to the job, she announced and instituted departmental audits, in her view which is a bold and “steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and operational efficiency”.Dr. Jallah’s peers and subordinates testify that she has proven to be a no-nonsense administrator insisting on the need for all and sundry within the Ministry to embrace transformative change, fostering a culture of professional excellence and academic achievement within the sector.

That the current Education Minister began her assignment with the familiarization and x-raying of the Liberian education sector not only to show how grimly determined she is, tackling the myriad biting gaps plaguing the sector, but also indicates that Liberians now have a goal-getter, a sensible administer not consumed by the pomp of the job but knows what she wants and how to work about it for results. And thank God the Ministry’s fledgling efforts under this Minister, largely as a result of her persistence and lobby powers in the corridors of government, netted the necessary government support in the tune of US$8.4 million to address critical gaps within Liberia’s education system. Many of her predecessors played lip-service to these gaps that include poor wages or financial insecurity for instructors, inadequacy of trained and professional teachers, lack of basic academic materials, low enrolment – gaps that have long fundamentally underpinned the paralysis of the education system of the country.

Seeking to build a resilient, professional, and knowledgeable workforce is the foundation that any growth-driven institution makes a priority, and Dr. Jallah believes by integrating volunteer teachers into the national payroll and addressing resource gaps, the Ministry is on its way of to lay the solid foundation for a brighter, more prosperous future for Liberia’s children, ensuring equitable access to high-quality education regardless of geographic location or socio-economic background.

At the onset of the first year of her incumbency, in order to identity the gaps that have had their toll on the education sector for the years, she put on boots, encouraged her deputies and other essential staff to the same traits, going from village to village across the country to give audience to direct beneficiaries of the sector, and to see for herself the impact that mere rhetoric and inaction central government has cost quality education for time immemorial.

Combining academic pedigree, a Doctor in Education Leadership from Delaware State University, a Masters in Counseling a B.A. in Communication and Sociology with her illustrious 20-year career, Dr. Jallah has been a trailblazer in promoting student success and creating inclusive learning environments, and the ultimate results are coming to Liberia and the sector.Dr. Jallah’s leadership capability, which has attracted confidence at home and abroad, has been paying off, including $75 million grant, an initiative is designed to strengthen English literacy skills for over 120,000 students in Grades 1–6 across six counties.

He has gone practically “crazy”, as Liberians would say about someone who is extremely obsessive with things, hands on every button and every screw that would unlock the enormous potential available for the transformation of the Liberian education sector, making it what is ought to be.

When it is about cracking down of syndicates (financial and professional) that are impeding reforms, or training and professionalizing, or combing the wild world to woo international support for Liberia’s education, or pestering the cabinet of Government to buy into her radically transformative agenda, or picking fights with “enemies” of the education sector, Dr. Jallah is restless, tactical and is overcoming, which is why she is “The Analyst’s Deserving Awardee 2024”.