BWI USA partners with BWI Liberia

Booker Washington Institute of Liberia and Booker Washington School of America established a sisterly relationship to boost vocational and technical education in Liberia. 

By Ramsey N. Singbeh, Jr., in Margibi

Kakata, Liberia, June 28, 2024—The Booker T. Washington High School in the United States of America has established a sisterly relationship with the Booker T. Washington Institute (BWI) in Liberia.

The Principal of the Booker Washington School in the US, Dr. Carlos Philips, along with his team, took up time from the States and came to Liberia Principal Dr. Nancy Freeman to meet with the new administration of BWI in Kakata, Margibi County, including  Principal Dr. Nancy Freeman, Chairman of Ex-Officials of BWI Board, Jonathan Payelayleh, and other administrators.

During their chats, according to our reporter who formed part of the nearly daylong tour of the institution, BWI Liberia and the BWI USA discussed, among others, how the two institutions can foster a partnership that will improve the BWI in Liberia.

Dr. Philips noted challenges at the institution as he went from one department to another, interacting with students and instructors about how the institution’s trade shops on campus could be improved.

Following the tour, he discussed with students a project that he could do to impact the BWI here.

The NEW DAWN has learned that BWI USA and BWI Liberia only had a connection by name until the fur establishment of a relationship.

Dr. Carlos Philips was encouraged by the Executive Director of a non-governmental institution known as SEHWAH, which is headed by a former Liberian official from Ellen Sirleaf’s administration, Louise Siaway.

‘SEHWAH,’ a name adapted from Nimba County, which means “for the sake of the soil,” is mainly focused on breeding young people educationally.

Madam Siaway, in a recent conversation with the media on the main campus of BWI in Kakata, said she observed no connection between BWI in America and the BWI in Liberia. This prompted her to ask Dr. Philips to come to Liberia, and he took a keen interest due to his passion for better education for all.

Speaking to reporters after the tour, Mr. Payelayleh and Dr. Freeman expressed great optimism that the relationship between the BWIs will make a difference in Liberia, considering the challenges.

The Booker Washington Institute is Liberia’s premier vocational training institute, which has existed for nearly a century, providing essential skills to young people. Editing by Jonathan Browne