Training

The school system consists of a one-year preschool, followed by a six-year elementary school and a supplementary stage of three plus three years. Officially, ten-year school attendance applies from the age of six, but in practice, even half of the children rarely have a proper schooling.

On paper, all fees were removed from the state primary school in 2007, but some of them still remain. This, along with the low quality of teaching, a long way to school and costs for books and school uniforms, has contributed to many children being absent from school. Especially in the countryside, many teachers have had a hard time getting their salaries. Teaching has also suffered from teachers’ strike or travel to Monrovia to demonstrate for better conditions.

• COUNTRYAAH: Country facts of Liberia, including geography profile, population statistics, and business data.

During the civil wars of 1989–1996 and 1999–2003, large parts of the school system were destroyed. After the end of the war, the government has invested heavily in rebuilding the demolished schools. In the state budget for 2014/2015, about 11 percent of the expenditure on education was allocated, making it one of the larger individual budget items. However, the decline is so great that it is expected to take many years to create a well-functioning school system. The Ebola epidemic 2014–2015 meant another breakdown, as schools were kept closed for almost the entire period. According to the World Bank, however, more children attended school in 2016 than it was before the outbreak of the disease.

In the capital Monrovia there is the state University of Liberia, founded as early as the mid-1800s. More than half a dozen other institutes also provide higher education. These, too, have been affected by the wars. A measure of the extent of the problems came in August 2013 when all students (almost 25,000) failed their entrance exams to the university. However, after talks with then-president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 1,800 students were given education at a state university, despite failing to pass the exams.

In 2018, President George Weah promised to drop the tuition fees for all undergraduate students. According to Weah, about 20,000 students register at the universities every year, but 8,000 never begin their studies due to lack of money.

• Topmbadirectory: Offers information about politics, geography, and known people in Liberia.

FACTS – EDUCATION

Proportion of children starting primary school

36.8 percent (2016)

Number of pupils per teacher in primary school

27 (2016)

Reading and writing skills

42.9 percent (2007)

Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP

7.0 percent (2017)

Public expenditure on education as a percentage of the state budget

7.0 percent (2017)

2016

June

UN force leaves Liberia

June 30th

On July 1, Unmil surrenders power to the Liberian army. However, 1 240 UN soldiers and 606 police officers remain for a while in the event of a crisis.

Sirleaf Johnson new president of Ecowas

June 4th

She thus becomes the first woman to hold the post.

May

Investigation of corruption business is promised

May 26

President Johnson Sirleaf reacts with dismay over the corruption revelations earlier this month. She sets up a special group, led by lawyer Jonathan Fonati Koffa, to investigate it and asks British Prime Minister David Cameron for help. Outside the Monrovia parliament building, protests will be held on May 19 to demand immediate action against those involved. The choice of Koffa also receives criticism, as he has previously been convicted of embezzlement. Several of the nominees intend to run in valent 2017, but the government is now considering blocking candidates who are subject to judicial investigations.

New corruption scandal

May 12

Information that the British mining company paid $ 950,000 in bribes to high-ranking politicians in Liberia and Guinea is leaked through the organization Global Witness. Varney Sherman, lawyer and chairman of the ruling Unity Party, should have helped the company pay out bribes that were used, among other things, to push through a change in law in Liberia that would make it easier for the company to break iron in Wologizi in northern Liberia. Among the nominees are Senator Morris Saytumah, a former close adviser to the President, Alex Taylor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Johnson Sirleaf’s son Fombah Sirleaf, Richard Tolbert, who previously chaired the country’s commission of inversion and Village Minister Ernest CB Jones. Everyone involved denies that they have done anything wrong.

April

New finance minister and central bank governor

April 15

The post goes to Boima Kamara, who previously held a leading position in Liberia’s central bank. New central bank governor will be Milton Weeks, who will take over after Charles Sirleaf, who was temporarily assigned to the assignment in February, after Joseph Mills Jones resigned to stand in the 2017 presidential election.

New ebola cases are detected at the beginning of the month

According to authorities, this is a woman who has fallen ill after a trip to Guinea, where reports of new deaths have come in the spring.

January

Unclear about the death of politicians

January 31 Harry Greaves, influential politician and businessman, is found dead on a beach in Monrovia, just over a mile from the exclusive tourist resort where witnesses last saw him. Greaves, who was an adviser to both Gyude Bryant (see below) and President Johnson Sirleaf, as well as the head of the oil company LPRC, had been accused of corruption and turned into one of the sitting government’s foremost critics. What caused Greave’s death is unknown, but many of his injuries must have been caused after he died. The death toll leads to a number of rumors and concerns about the security of the country. In 2016, the country’s own police force will assume responsibility for security from the UN force Unmil.