There are no publishers of reading textbooks in Liberia. In fact, there are few book publishers in
West Africa where the culture is based on oral traditions rather than the
written word. Each year millions of
books are sent to Africa from the U.S. and Europe where books are more abundant.
So many American books are sent to
Liberia, that if an American child were to find herself in a school library in
Liberia (extremely rare), she would be surrounded by books very familiar from
her own experience in an American school.
One young member of a LOEP training team was looking over
the books in a Liberian school book storage room during a workshop break. There were about 200 books – old, pre-1985
textbooks, mostly single copies, random subjects. She noticed lots of American history books,
some old Reading textbooks, and Science textbooks. All were still in regular use at the school. It shocked her to see the third grade Math
textbook and fourth grade Social Studies textbook that she used in her own
grade school days in the early 1980s.
Such familiar items of her own personal history here in Liberia!
As educators, those of us involved with LOEP believe
education is key to our work in Liberia promoting strong professional
competencies for teachers, student social responsibility and peaceful
coexistence. As teachers we know how
important it is for children to learn within the context of their own
culture. Education and culture are so
very closely interconnected that the two cannot really be separated. The prevalence of and reliance on American textbooks
in Liberia poses a challenge for LOEP volunteers as we design teacher training
workshops and provide instructional materials for Liberian classrooms. We know that kids learn best within the
context of their own culture – learning does not happen in a vacuum. We know teachers need to teach within that
context and materials need to be relevant.
The next couple of blog posts will explain how LOEP selects books and instructional materials to send to our partners in LIberia.
