Transcript Status of Science, technology & innovation

Science, technology &
innovation workshop in Mali
Status of Science, technology &
innovation in Liberia
May 11, 2010
Organizational Structure
The Ministry of Education
The National
Commission on
Higher Education
The Department of
Instruction
The Bureau of Vocation &
Technology
1 public university
The Division of Science &
technology
5 private universities
relevant agencies of
government and partners
Agricultural research, biomedical research
STI Status pre & post conflict
Pre-conflict status (before 1990)
- Structure of primary & secondary education
changed from 8 – 4 system to 6 – 3 – 3
where science subjects are taught separately
in the last 3 years
- Science education emphasized at tertiary
level
- Vocation schools established, equipped and
made functional
- 5 centers were established where S & T
teachers were trained
- IT system was setup for data collection of
schools
STI Status pre & post conflict
•Transitional period (1990 - 2003)
- Conflict erupted, school
infrastructures were destroyed
- All systems put in place were
derailed
STI Status pre & post conflict
Post conflict (after 2003)
- Baseline data collected by the M&E division of the
Ministry of Education
- Nos. of primary and secondary school teachers (trained
and untrained)
- Nos. of schools from secondary to tertiary level
with equipped and functioning science labs
- Nos. of qualified science professors at tertiary level
STI Status pre & post conflict
Post conflict (after 2003) cont’d
Results from baseline studies.
- 29% of teachers in the secondary schools teach science
- 24% of secondary science teachers (16,199) are
trained
- Less than 1% of senior high schools (396) have
equipped and functioning science labs
- 65% of the lecturers in the sciences at tertiary level are
unqualified
- All science laboratories at tertiary level are poorly
equipped and lack reagents
STI Funding
- Education allocation is 15% of
national budget contrary to 25% of
FTI bench mark thus less than 0.5%
of GDP is committed to STI
- Various agencies of government,
grants to tertiary institutions for
sponsorship and research
R & D performing institutions
-
Agriculture Research Institute
Tertiary Institutions
Bio-Medical Research
Ministry of Health
S & T Policies
Currently, Liberia does not have policy on
S&T however, discussions are underway
in developing S&T policy
- Baseline data are being collected in this
direction
S & T Indicators
Ideally, when the S&T policies are
established, indicators will be developed
for tracking
Current priority needs
- Develop national STI policies
- Rehabilitation of S&T infrastructures
- capacity building in STI
Thank you for your attention