ULAA Eastern Regional Vice President, Mr. Isaac Saye Zawolo, Jr. has re-echoed the maxim that “education is a right and not a privilege.” Serving as a panelist over the weekend at a symposium sponsored by Crowd 50, the award winning Liberian educator accentuated that Government has a responsibility to make education free and accessible.  He indicated that learning can only occur in an environment that is conducive and non-threatening. 

Dissecting the Education Policy topic of the workshop further, Regional Vice President Zawolo said that given the present dismal economic situation in the country it is not only fair but exceedingly imperative that Government lessens the burden on parents by providing free primary and secondary education.  

Mr. Zawolo, who is Adjunct Lecturer of Mathematics at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, intimated that government could explore innovative measures such as the levying of additional taxes on tobacco and alcoholic products as a means of funding education.  He furthered that the failure of government to invest in education now could lead to the agonizing consequences this present generation of Liberians continues to suffer through the massive destruction occasioned by the just ended civil crisis.  

Speaking further, the former University of Liberia Lecturer decried the alarming rate of increase in the number of post secondary institutions in Liberia, warning that the Government of Liberia, through the relevant agencies, need to develop appropriate evaluative and monitoring mechanisms to ensure that institutions of higher learning are not mere extortion chambers.  

The ULAA Official charged that the proliferation of community colleges in the country yields to duplication of functions and the over-crowding of the job market with professionals in only a handful of specialties. He challenged government to embolden the establishment of institutions that meet the human resources needs of local industries and the community.  

Mr. Zawolo also used the occasion to applaud the "Crowd 50" Organization. He described the group as a partner of which ULAA is proud, alluding that the task of re-building Liberia is enormous.  Concluding, Mr. Zawolo called on other groups to emulate the "Crowd 50".  

Mr. Zawolo was deputizing for ULAA National President Arthur K. Watson who had delegated this responsibility to the Regional Vice President before leaving for Australia.

Mr. Zawolo served as panelist on the first of four workshop sessions on Saturday, August 26, 2006 in Maryland City of Adelphi.  The topic under examination for this session was “Education Policy for the New Liberia-Making it Relevant to toady's Liberian Youth.”  Former Liberian Education Minister E. Othello Gongar served as keynote speaker. Co-panelists to Mr. Zawolo were Former University of Liberia Professor, Dr. Cyril Broderick, currently Professor at the University of Delaware and Dr. Sophie Williams, the first person to serve as Director of Student Personnel Services at the Ministry of Education. 

Three other workshop sessions were held during the day.  There was a session on “Reconciliation-Tribal, Dual Citizenship & Immigrant vs. Stay Home Liberian Divide” which was keynoted by Professor Dr. D. Elwood Dunn, former Liberian Minister of State for Presidential Affairs during the William Tolbert Administration. 

A session on the “Open Door Policy—Identifying New Directions” was keynoted by the Head of Liberia National Investment Commission, Mr. Richard Tolbert.  The fourth session focused on the “Role of Women in African and World Development” and was keynoted by renowned Liberian medical practitioner, Dr. Euphemia Brumskine. 

At the end of the workshop, ULAA, among other participants was awarded a Certification of Participation