MONROVIA: As Liberia celebrates its National Flag Day on Saturday, August 24, 2024, across the country, the Ministry of Education (MoE), has disclosed that 30 senior high schools in Montserrado County are expected to participate in the Flag Day celebration.
The Assistant Minister for Student Personnel Services at the Ministry of Education, Sona Traore Sesay, pointed out that the Ministry of Education (MOE) is working with schools and some line ministries and agencies to ensure the success of the celebration of Liberia 177th Flag Day on Saturday, August 24, 2024.
Assistant Minister Sesay, speaking on the Show, Education at Midweek, on ELBC Radio on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, stated that the Flag Day celebration is an exciting time for students in general.
According to the Minister, for this year celebration, the Ministry is working with students from Thirty (30) high schools in Montserrado County.
She said forty (40) students will come from each school, making the total of 1,200 students.
She added the MoE has already sent communications to the selected schools administrations and they are preparing their students for the Flag Day parade.
She named the selected schools as B.W. Harris High School, D. Tweh High School, G.W. Gibson High School, St. Peter Lutheran, W.V.S Tubman, Worldwide Mission, Muslim Congress High School and others.
Assistant Minister Sesay also thanked committee members from different line ministries and agencies who are working to coordinate the national flag celebration.
“The Flag Day is a day that starts very early by the hoisting of the flag at the BTC by 6:00 AM, so we are looking forward to seeing our students and citizens celebrate the day and it is also our hope that even if we have rain or sun, we will be able to celebrate,” she added.
Minister Sesay disclosed that the Flag Day celebration will be held at the Centennial Pavilion, starting at 10:00 AM and the guest speaker who has honor the program is Madam Olubanke King-Akerele, former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
She highlighted that former Minister Akerele is someone who will be able to historically draw the attention of different age-groups towards the significance of the Flag Day.
It is because of this she was selected to serve as the Guest Speaker for the day.
She emphasized Madam Akerele’s background, immense and indelible positive contributions to pushing the youth and everybody to understand the history of Liberia.
As a mother, she will be able to draw everybody’s attention to the significance of the Flag Day and people to read and illustrate their patriotism concerning national the flag and the importance of it.
She mentioned that the Ministry has invited all government officials to attend the program.
MoE is specifically working with Ministry of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc.
“We will also have Ministry of Health sending a team, because we expect a large group of students and people on that day to provide first aid.
We are also partnering with Liberia Nation Fire and Rescue Service (LNFRS) to be present.
Aside from that, we will have our development partners attending the event and a lot of representatives from our own Ministry to support and make sure that we keep our students,” she noted.
Minister Sesay also said MoE is working with County Education Officers (CEO) in each of the counties to decentralize the Flag Day celebration.
Each CEO is responsible to work with their education offices to ensure that students and folks in their regions benefit and are able to participate in the celebration.
She continued: “In Central Office, we also bring banners with venues for counties and they also received financial support to be able to celebrate the program as well so.
According to her, all of the 14 counties excluding Montserrado because it is standing on its own already are expected to celebrate the program.
Each county received their own funds for the national celebration and they are working within their own budgets, likewise, Montserrado and each county is working with 25 schools except Montserrado which is working with 30 schools”.
The Assistant Minister for Student Personnel Services also sent a passionate plead to parents whose children are to participate in the celebrate to encourage their children to exhibit good behaviors.
“Because it is almost like a culture to say the children come to these programs and show some kinds of bad behaviors and the issues may arise from transportation reimbursements and others so, we have told schools and parents that the Ministry is going to look after their children when they come out. We already have a list of students from the participating schools, so we know who the students are,” she said.
“So it is a plea to parents, and schools leaderships to talk to their students to exhibit good behaviors so that the program can be where they can enjoy and have fun because it is an exchange of students from different schools including the other counties; it will be a large group, bringing 1,200 students together and this is just the student bod, not talking about the officials and other invitees,” she asserted.
She also urged parents and schools to ensure that their students dress well and speaks to each other with kind words at the celebration.
For her part, Mrs. Elizabeth Hope, Director for Schools and Health at MOE said, the Theme for this year Flag Day is: “The Flag The Symbol of One Liberia.”
Mrs. Hope indicated that they are expected to meet 20 students from each of the selected schools on this Thursday, August 22, 2024 for dress rehearsal at the BTC Barrack.
She stated that on the day of the celebration, they will have one teacher per school, accompanying the children along with their ROTC teacher.
Mrs. Hope added that they will have transportation reimbursements including feeding after the event for the students.
She also said at the end of the day, they will be presenting five different awards from different categories which are the best alright, First, second and third, the best dress school, and the best discipline school.
She said the presentation of awards will also be done simultaneously in the other counties because it is a standard, emphasizing that the awards do not have cash. Writes Linda Gbartie