Top: Bettoe Town Public School, Compound One, Grand Bassa County. The Daylight/Emmanuel Sherman

By Emmanuel Sherman

BETTOE Town, Grand Bassa County – Villagers have built a schoolhouse with funds they received from a logging contract.  

Every week, schoolchildren from towns and villages trek to the Bettoe Town Public School to quench their thirst for education.

“Bettoe Town Public School…  benefits the [community],” said Garsaweh Harris, the Community leader for areas affected by the Timber Sales Contract Area Three in Compound Number One, Grand Bassa County Three, known in forestry as TSC A-3.  

The Bettoe Town School was the first of two projects in the area, costing US$900 and LD415,452. The school has 86 students and two teachers.

Proceeds used to erect the school came from land rental fees the community got from a concession between the Liberian government and the Nigerian-owned Akewa Group of Companies.

Akewa owes the community US$11,624.50, according to a 2022 forestry report.

The National Benefit Sharing Trust Board receives, manages and disburses funds logging companies remit to communities. Land rentals are calculated at US$1.25 per, hectare multiplied by the size of the forest. Of this, 55 percent is for the community and 45 percent for the government.

Last year, the government paid US$300,000 to logging-affected communities, according to a report by US-based Forest Trends.

Larry Gbomay, a member of the community’s leadership, urged the Benefit Trust Board to pay the balance.  

“We want to tell the government that we need the balance to address [the school’s problems],” said Gbomay. “The children sit on benches because the chairs we have are too low.”

In 2021 the government terminated all TSCs across the country, including the one whose funding built Bettoe  Town Public School. However, locals have stuck with the leadership.

Harris said, “We are just part of the [leadership] to hold our union together.”