ARTHINGTON, Montserrado – In many rural communities of Liberia, where crops grow endlessly under the scorching sun, dreams often wither before they can bloom. In 2021 Nancy Howard graduated from Arthington Public School with hopes of one day becoming a professional journalist and lifting her family from the grip of poverty.
By Siaway T. Miapue – [email protected] with New Narratives
But Nancy’s dreams ended early. When she completed the 9th grade there was no school nearby where she could complete high school. Her subsistence farming family had no money to send her to a private school far away. Like children all over rural Liberia Nancy abandoned her plans and joined her family in farming.
Now, at 25, she is a mother of three, laboring alongside her aging parents on the very sugarcane farm that she had hoped to leave behind.
“The cane farm work is very hard,” says Nancy sadly as she sits on wooden bench on her farm after a long day’s work. Her three young children lie around but soon they too will be forced to join her. “My mother has been doing it since she was young, and now she’s getting old. I planned to finish school to help my people escape this suffering.”
Nancy’s story is all too common in Liberia’s rural areas where education is scarce and jobs are even more scarce. For many, reaching high school is an unattainable goal. In most rural areas, public schools stop at the 6th or 9th grade. Continuing beyond that requires moving to the city, an option that is out of reach for families like Nancy’s, who struggle just to make ends meet.
The result is predictable. The 2022 Liberia Population and Housing Census showed while 40.7 percent of students attend school in urban areas, only 27.2 percent do so in rural communities. The dropout rate is higher in rural areas (15.6 percent) than in urban areas (13 percent). For girls, the situation is even more dire: those who leave school early often face the dual burden of early parenthood and a lifetime of limited prospects.
Jerome Pederson, principal of Arthington Public School, has watched this cycle unfold year after year.
“It pains me when I see my kids that have passed through the walls of Arthington Public School just languishing around, riding bikes, or working on sugarcane farms,” he said, his frustration evident. Mr. Pederson sits in his office on the same campus, preparing for another graduation for the academic year.” Most of my students, after graduation, engage in coal burning, sugarcane farming, or motorbike riding. That’s their livelihood right after graduation because their parents do not have the means of sending them to Monrovia.”
The gap between urban and rural education in Liberia is not a new problem. Dating back to 1822, and the arrival of settlers from the United States, the first schools were elementary day schools opened by the Providence Baptist Mission and other churches. Under the rule of former President William V.S. Tubman, efforts were made to expand education with the help of Peace Corps volunteers from the U.S., but these were limited to elementary and junior high levels. Today, the legacy of these incomplete efforts persists.
“When the churches established those schools, they only established them at that level – six grades, seven grades, maybe 9th grade and that was the end,” says Dr. Samuel Kortue, chairperson of the history department at the University of Liberia.
Teachers across Liberia, from the bustling urban centers to the remote rural villages, are grappling with overwhelming challenges that continue to strain the nation’s education system with serious implications for future generations. Low pay, crumbling or non-existent buildings, and insufficient professional support are driving teachers away from the profession.
In both rural and urban areas, the average government teacher earns $US150 to $US300 a month while those with master’s degree earn about $US500, according to the Ministry of Education. For private schools, the average salary can be as low as $US50 with many waiting months to receive them. This delay can become a significant burden, especially for teachers in remote areas where other sources of income are scarce. The financial uncertainty leaves many educators juggling side jobs to make ends meet.
Those in rural areas face an additional layer of hardship say education experts. Schools are often dilapidated, with students crammed into classrooms without roofs or floors and lacking basic furniture and teaching materials. In some instances, students are forced to sit on the floor, while teachers make do without textbooks or chalk. Student-to-teacher ratios can reach as high as 100:1 far surpassing the recommended 40:1.
Infrastructure challenges extend beyond the classroom, say teachers. Rural teachers often have to travel long distances to reach schools, navigating muddy roads during Liberia’s rainy season. With little or no teacher housing provided, many walk hours each day. Even in urban areas, commuting can be difficult, as traffic congestion adds pressure on already overworked teachers.
Many teachers have not had good training themselves. According to Liberia’s Education Sector Plan (2022/23-2026/27), only 45 percent of teachers are formally trained, far below the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 68 percent. Many experts argue that building new schools is a waste of time until you have teachers who are trained to teach in them.
Dr. Benjamin Wehyee, a teacher and education expert, advocates for student interactions within schools to build social skills and supportive learning communities. And he wants to see curricula that reflect local cultures and languages to make education more engaging and relevant, especially for high school students preparing for their future.
“Until we can build the capacities of teachers, increase social interactions, and introduce education that reflects local cultures and languages, building schools will not solve the problem,” Dr. Wehyee said. He also wants to see more training opportunities outside of Monrovia and encouragement of girls. “Decentralizing teacher training programs and incentivizing rural communities to send their girls to school are essential steps.”
Professional development opportunities are rare, both in rural and urban settings. Teachers report that they lack access to ongoing training or workshops that would allow them to sharpen their skills and stay updated on curriculum changes. Without this support, many are left to rely on outdated teaching methods, negatively impacting students’ learning outcomes.
Despite these challenges, teachers remain the backbone of Liberia’s education system, often sacrificing personal well-being to ensure that students receive some form of education. Yet, the strain is taking its toll. Many teachers report feeling undervalued and unsupported, both by the government and the communities they serve.
Officials at the Ministry of Education, under the new government of President Joseph Boakai, acknowledge these challenges and say they taking steps to address them.
“Fifty-six percent of our students drop out by the time they reach 6th grade,” says Mr. Abba G. Karnga, Jr., Assistant Minister of Basic and Secondary Education. He says the ministry has big plans including a teacher recruitment and retention program, which will offer financial incentives, housing, and transportation allowances for teachers assigned to rural schools. There is also a push for increased funding and resources from international partners, with a special focus on supporting girls’ education.
“We need to create access, provide the infrastructure, and ensure teachers are available. That’s why we want to bring 2,000 new teachers,” said Mr. Karnga.
But international donors have expressed weariness in recent years with funding essential services in Liberia while corrupt officials steal government funds. There has also been considerable unhappiness in the education sector with international partners who have come in to manage schools.
Front Page Africa/New Narratives has exposed the large costs and disappointing results by Bridge International, one major international organization that has run hundreds of schools in Liberia for a decade. Mr. Karnga said the ministry will be monitoring schools much more thoroughly going forward something he says has been lacking for many years.
The 2024 national budget saw $US111 million earmarked for the education sector – 14.1 percent of the total budget and 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP is a measurement of the country’s total economy). $US48.5 million was designated for the Ministry of Education and later cut by nearly a million dollars in the recast budget. This allocation surpasses the 2023 allotment of $US43.9 million.
Government funding for the sector falls below international benchmarks set by UNESCO and other organizations which recommend countries allocate 15- 20 percent of public expenditure to education or 4-6 percent of GDP.
The government’s new efforts are a step in the right direction according to Mary W. M. Nyumah, president of the National Teachers Association but she says without addressing the issues of low pay, poor infrastructure, and delayed salaries, the impact of these reforms will be limited.
“We are grateful, but 2,000 teachers are still not enough.”
But for Nancy Howard, these changes come too late. She is now just hoping improvements will help her children.
“We pray for God to send us somebody to help with our school, especially the teachers,” she says. “Sometimes, when you go to school, there are no teachers, especially when it rains. They just end up playing and wrestling. If we had the right teachers, some of us wouldn’t have dropped out or become early parents.”
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the Investigative Liberia project. Funding was provided by the Swedish embassy in Liberia. The funder had no say in the story’s content.
