Bishop Conto Descends On MOE

-Says The Ministry Playing ‘Lip-Service’

By R Joyclyn Wea

The Bishop of the Mission for Today God’s Holy Church, P. Manasseh Conto says the Liberian Government through the Ministry of Education is allegedly playing ‘Lip-Service’ with the education system of the country.

Bishop Conto spoke over the weekend at program making the 44^th graduation exercises of the Bishop Raymond P. Kofa Memorial Institute (BRAKOMI) in New Kru Town, Bushrod Island.

According to Bishop Conto, if the ministry continues to play ‘lip-service’ to education, the country will go nowhere.

“In my heart the priority of this government should be education first and education last. We want the coastal highway, we want the new Monrovia, but if people are not educated they will not maintained the infrastructure,” he said.

He claimed that not much change has been made since Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, then President classified the educational system as a ‘mess’ saying “if you look at the budget of past administration and even now, you come to realize that they are playing ‘Lip-service’ with education. I thought lots of things could have been cutoff and fund allocated to education.”

Conto stressed the need for government to make available additional fund by reducing wasteful spending and salaries and allot such fund toward improving the education sector.

The Liberian clergyman indicated that a country of uneducated people is a recipe for disaster on grounds that when people are not educated they can be easily manipulated, misinform, and misled; alleging that President Tolbert died because of lack of education.

Bishop Conto further emphasized that if Liberia must be like other African countries in the sub-region, the government should prioritize education not only in word, but it should be demonstrated.

Bishop Conto believes that since the proclamation by former president Sirleaf regarding the educational sector, the budget has not changed thus posing lot of difficulties to the sector.

He is of the strongest conviction when government prioritizes education, the country will have a youthful, but educated population saying “Liberia’s growth depends on quality education something leaders of the nation has not understood over the years.”