House Passes Special Education Fund Bill

House Passes Special Education Fund Bill. MONROVIA, March 12 (LINA) – The Plenary of the House of Representatives has passed and forwarded to the Liberian Senate for concurrence an Act seeking to create a special educational scheme.

Recently, the Act seeking to legislate “A special Education Fund To support and sustain the tuition-free scheme for the University of Liberia and all public Universities and colleges programs and the free WASSCE fees for ninth and twelfth graders in Liberia” was submitted to the House of Representatives by Montserrado County District #5 Representative, Thomas Fallah. The communication after deliberation was sent to the Committees on Education and Ways, Means, and Finance to conduct a financial impact analysis and report back to plenary in two weeks.

In the committees’ report to the plenary on Thursday, the bill will create opportunities to promote empowerment and development of the young people of Liberia through easy access to higher education. The committees further believe that the proposed Act will serve as an impetus for students to seek college education without worrying about the high cost of a college education. The report stated that when establish by law, the Act will mitigate the current economic inequality by increasing college enrollment as well as lowering pressure on students and parents, and improving completion term of studies, especially amongst students of lower-income.

Among other things, the report indicated that the payment of WASSCE fees for both private and public schools ninth and twelfth graders will help to reduce the financial burden on students and parents, adding that it will also cause an increase in senior high enrollment and academic outputs, among others.

The report further stated that the Act is funded from revenue-generating entities,  adding that any student staying longer than one year after the average duration of the course of study shall be dropped from the program. Meanwhile, the report was endorsed, passed, and sent to the Liberian Senate for concurrence.