Department of Planning

Hon. Alton V. Kesseley Deputy Minister for Planning, Research & Development

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Minister Kesselly is a polymath. He is an educator, academic, mathematician, and scientist. He has taught Physics and Mathematics at both High school and university levels for many years in Liberia, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Prior to his appointment as Deputy Minister for Planning, Research, and Development of the Ministry of Education, he served as the Executive Director of the Liberian Institute for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (LISTEM). As a patriot of the highest order, he abandoned his Ph.D. program in Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town when he was called upon to come home to serve the Ministry of Education as a Disaster Risk Analyst and STEM Specialist.

Minister Kesselly has a Master’s in Applied Mathematics from the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, a master’s in Mathematical Science from the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences/Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South, a Master’s in Astrophysics from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China and a Bachelor’s in Physics from the University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria. He is currently doing postgraduate studies in Data Science at the George Washington University, Washington D.C, United States of America.

Responsibilities

The Department for Planning, Research and Development, which shall be headed by a Deputy Minister for Planning, Research and Development appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, shall have the following mandate and core functions:

 

Design, development, management, and coordination of policies, procedures and activities for reviewing and updating national education plans;
Ensuring that developed plans are in consonance with the national development priorities and objectives;
Facilitating the development of the plan, design and construction schedules of all public, private and faith-based education facilities, whether directly financed by the Government or the development partners;
Be the principal liaison (acting through the office of the Deputy Minister), between the Ministry and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs, development partners, donor community, domestic, and external institutions involved with education;
Develop prototype designs for educational facilities for all levels of education, and in that, connection maintains a technical and professional staff for the promotion of its work;
Facilitating the development and implementation of a management information system that will include, but not limited to, educational statistics, national demographics records;
Spearheading the development, review, revision, pilot testing, and updating of the national curriculum at all levels, in coordination with the Department of Instructions;
Cause the developed either by the staff of the Department, in coordination with the Department of Instructions, or through requests appropriately advertised, for proposals for writing, printing, and distribution of textbooks for the Liberian school system;
Be the arm of the Ministry principally responsible for the preparation of the Ministry’s annual report and budget;
Serve as the clearinghouse for education development activities;
Be, in consultation with the Deputy Minister for Administration, responsible for the supervision of construction, renovation and expansion of schools, and other education facilities.