By Melvin Jackson with journalRAGE
Margibi–Beatrice Myers, 15, had yet to learn her dream of becoming a medical doctor after secondary school would come to an intermittent halt before it began.
A former 5th-grade student at the Dolo Town Public School in Margibi County, and as well as a physically challenged person, Myers dropped out of school when it became arduous for her to attend classes.
“I had to drop out of school for a year because I couldn’t climb the stairs,” she said. “Sitting in a wheelchair makes it very difficult for me.”
“On several occasions, I had been turned down by my friends when seeking their help entering the school campus,” she said. “Sometimes, they make fun of me due to my disabilities.”
Beatrice’s parents are low-income earners who are also physically challenged. She said they could not afford to send her to an institution accommodating her needs as a person living with a disability.
She furthered that commuting to school daily on a motorcycle also placed a financial strain on her parents, coercing them to relocate her.
The population of persons with disabilities in Liberia currently stands at 110,260, according to the African Disability Rights Yearbook. Females constitute 53,698 (48.7%) while males constitute 56,562 (51.3%).
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), estimated in 2014 that due to the devastating civil war that ended in 2003 and the Ebola outbreak in 2014, the population of people with disabilities in Liberia is likely closer to 20 percent.
While Liberia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), the organization states that much has not been done to protect PWDs from discrimination.
Since the ratification of the CRPD, the country has taken several measures, including creating the National Commission on Disabilities. Still, the organization says the government needs to go a step further.
A la Beatrice, Mercy Kollie, 14, a young girl living with disability, underwent a similar situation at the Dolo Town Public School–the inaccessibility of her campus hindered, temporarily, her lifelong dream of acquiring an education.
The Dolo Town Public School, like many public schools across the country, is not disability-friendly, leaving her unable to access classrooms or move around the campus independently..
Mercy said she depended on her classmates to tote her from her wheelchair to her classroom each day and repeated the effort at the end of the school day.
Despite her zealousness, the daily struggles of navigating the campus made learning harrowing.
She transferred to the Harbel Multilateral High School for an accessible learning environment.
She now commutes daily by motorbike. Though she finds this arrangement accommodating, she reveals that the cost of transportation–L$150—is too high a burden to bear.
But commuting daily has placed a burden on her family’s meager resources.
Mercy and Beatrice’s experiences highlight the urgency for accessibility in schools, public and private, across urban and rural Liberia for persons with disabilities.
In rural Liberia, girls like Beatrice and Mercy are more likely to be married than literate. According to the Ministry of Education, 65% of young women and 35% of young men aged 15-24 are illiterate.
Though the Government launched the inclusive education policy in 2018, it leaves a lot to be desired. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, Maxim Bleethan, could not be reached for a comment.
‘Many milestones to achieve’
Article 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities calls on states parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas.
However, Madam Daintowon Domah Pay-Bayee, former chairperson of the National Commission on Disabilities, says it remains tall order for Liberia.
“When it comes to the educational environment, which is a right for everyone, we still have many milestones to achieve,” she says. “It remains a challenging movement for persons with disabilities.”
She noted that the lack of accessibility is not unique to Margibi County, but affects the entirety of rural Liberia.
“Less than five percent of schools in Montserrado are trying to be accessible. Despite the many challenges, the government of Liberia is making some efforts to address the problems” she added.
She lamented that a simple round of improvements at public schools, such as adding ramps with three bags of cement, crushed rock and water could aignificantly help children with disabilities access their classes.
“Liberia is implementing compulsory primary education, but many children with disability are not benefiting from it due to lack of accessibility.”
Madam Pay-Bayee’s sentiment is shared by Peter B.K. Flomo, president of the National Union of Organizations for the Disabled (NUOD), who claimed that 95% of schools across the country are inaccessible. NUOD is a civil society organization that champions the rights of people living with disabilities.
“This issue extends beyond public and private schools to include clinics, hospitals, government ministries, and agencies–95% of them are not accessible.”
The foreseeable future, for Beatrice Myers and Mercy Kollie, appear grim as they tackle obstacle that seem insurmountable.
This story was funded by the European Union under the Liberia Media Empowerment Project (LMEP). Its contents are the sole responsibility of journalRAGE and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.