The development of ICT is key to improve the delivery of quality education in Liberia - it gains time, it helps the teacher to compare their notes, exchange good practices, etc. but the lack of ICT training and competencies is an obstacle. UNESCO’s Enhancing Teacher Education Project through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Pedagogy in Liberia a China-Funds-in-Trust project aiming to support the Government of Liberia in efforts to improve the quality education and achieve SDG4 by capacitating major Teacher Training Institutes (TTIs) with ICT infrastructures and ICT training for effective pedagogy delivery. Going through the first project phase, most of the 78 teacher beneficiaries conduct is now conducting their teaching and learning processes using PowerPoint and conveniently compute their grade calculations/evaluations using Excel applications.
There were many interesting facts during the project implementation. For instance, one instructor of the University of Liberia first entered the ICT project was invited to come and sit for an ICT capacity assessment test, but he commented: “If you want to disgrace me, you can take your project out of here.” He was completely ICT illiterate at that time; however, after a few sessions of intensive training, he has found ICT is easy and convenient and started to use PowerPoint presentations to teach his classes and conduct research through the assistance of a computer. In general, it is gratifying to note that the teacher educators who were ICT illiterate can now sit in ICT training workshops and speak about using ICT-related applications, such as Google Drive, for their teaching and research work.
Currently, this project is in its second phase wherein the ICT in education policy is a major component. It is aimed to create the opportunity to transform the nation’s educational landscape and aid to value creation of economic output and education outcomes, laying the bedrock for future socio-economic development.