Jarquie Baryon is the Principal of Bridge Liberia Chinakaleh School in the Grand Kru County of south-east Liberia.

Chinakaleh in an extremely rural community, far from any towns. Each school day—in the early hours—Jarquie will walk for 45 minutes so he arrives before the other teachers. He’ll synchronise their teacher computers, so that they are ready for when they arrive. As well as running his school, Jarquie organises the local football team, so he has a great relationship with the local community. Parents are witness to the positive changes that have taken place at his school since Bridge Liberia began managing it. Most notably, their children are now fluent in English.

Jarquie’s passion is teaching and learning—in and out of the classroom—he believes that buried talents can be brought out of people through education, which provides a source of confidence.

He strives to pass on all the knowledge he has. He combines his passion for teaching and music to lead a choir for his community too. Back at school, he’s built a strong team that collaborates and spends lots of time together. He reminds his teachers that everything they do has a wider impact that they can not see yet. A large part of Jarquie’s responsibilities is to provide reviews and training for his teachers. He enjoys this, saying: 

To succeed a school needs passionate staff and strong administration.

And adds: “I love the Bridge system . . . when people lack monitoring, no one knows what they’re doing . . . Bridge monitors and makes sure that we know what people are doing. There is always accountability. Teachers are motivated to do their best and get the best from their students. I appreciate that my work is being monitored; receiving feedback is very important to me.”

Jarquie makes a compelling case for why education fosters development: “An educated person can change themselves and then you can change your community. Once you’re educated you can make improvements,” he says: “You can change your country, even the world.”