USAID/OTI Liberia Hot Topics
December 2004
Muslim Congress Students Return to Class
Over 800 students are back in class today at the Monrovia Muslim Congress School in new quarters funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development's Liberia Transition Initiative (LTI). The school was burned in the early November riots which caused extensive damage to public and private properties across Monrovia.
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| Instructor teaches students at restored Muslim Congress School |
The main school structure is no longer suitable for classes and will have to be torn down. However, LTI provided over $20,000 to repair an alternative structure while providing desks and blackboards to get classes started again five weeks after the riots.
"We are so grateful to LTI and the American people for the help they have given us. Without it we would still be struggling to get re-started," said school Principal Mohammed Trawally. A senior class student Hassan Ryan Kamara Jr added, "Our school got burned and there were so many students that depended on it. We are 63 in the senior class who must sit for exams in several months and we had to be back in school quickly or risk losing a year."
Muslim Congress School has an enrollment of 800 students in grades K-12 who are all now back in classes. The student body is 85% Muslim and 15% Christian, with 40% girls enrolled. The staff are 85% Christian and 15% Muslim. The school was started in 1963 and grew annually until in 1980 President Tolbert opened the new building which was recently burned in riots. Classes are presently being held in temporary classrooms on the property adjacent to the destroyed school. There was also a computer training school in the previous building which they hope to restart if possible.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington: John Gattorn, Liberia Program Manager, 202-712-0716, jgattorn@usaid.gov
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