The most commonly cited reason is financial constraints. More than half of families live below the poverty line and the little money they have is spent almost exclusively on food. Even though school is officially free in Liberia, there are still too many costs such as uniforms, shoes, equipment, transport, etc. But also fees illegally charged by teachers, particularly during tests. In rural areas, it is not uncommon for villages to have no school, which means transport costs for families that they usually cannot afford.
The lack of schools is partly linked to the years of civil war. During the conflict, schools were damaged or destroyed, and teachers left their posts. But schools are also inadequate because the population continues to grow. "If you look at the population of Grand Bassa, for example, it is no longer the same as it was ten years ago, explains Tony, the monitoring and evaluation officer at Grand Bassa County for the Ministry of Education. The population is increasing over time. The number of schools is no longer sufficient to accommodate all school-age children."
The lack of teachers. This is another reason for the low school enrolment rate in Liberia. Too many schools simply do not have enough teachers. Or the teachers are not paid, which leads them to neglect their obligations towards the children. The country also has a large number of ghost teachers, i.e. individuals fraudulently on the payroll who don't show up for work. Volunteer teachers are sometimes fortunately there to compensate for the absence of real teachers. But quality education cannot be improvised. In any case, the vast majority of teachers are insufficiently qualified because they are insufficiently trained.
Another reason is the lack of education among too many parents, who were themselves children during the long civil war. "Most parents, especially in rural areas, are not interested in education because they were also born outside the box", mentions Tony. "So, they too are raising children. They didn't have the opportunity to go to school. So, they don't know the importance of education. So, it makes it difficult to let their children go to school."
In order to attend school, children must be registered. However, more than a third of children are not registered.
Girls’ education is also negatively affected by the lack of toilets and bathrooms, especially when they begin menstruating and need the privacy and safety of separate girls/boys facilities. Only 58 per cent of schools have safe drinking water and 56 per cent have functional sanitation facilities.
And regarding girls, teenage Pregnancy is a major driver for girls dropping out, with high rates of young women becoming mothers or pregnant early.