The President of Liberia Manneh Weah who overcame childhood poverty to become one of the world’s top footballers got elected late last year on a platform of fighting poverty and kickstarting an economy still affected by two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, as well as providing stability and growth.
Manneh Weah declared last week Thursday that all undergraduates public entering universities across the country will enjoy free tuition. He made the declaration before students of the University of Liberia at the Capitol Hill campus located in the capital Liberia.
The students came in front of my office to complain that the administrators have increased the tuition in the school. I was not happy about that. I was shocked when I was told that every semester about 20,000 (would-be students) go through the registration process, (but) only 12,000 attend. Furthermore, about 5,000 of the 12,000 who are in attendance are depending on some form of financial aids or scholarship. The rest of the students do not attend due to the lack of financial aid. The inability of our young people to continue their education is very troubling, Manneh Weah said while he was on campus.
Liberia has four state universities: the main University of Liberia, the Booker Washington Institute, Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law and the William Tubman University.
Most African countries are grappling with implementing free education even at the basic level. Ghana started an ambitious free Senior High School system which continues to be faced with challenges. Sierra Leone is also in the process of implementing free primary education, Many economic watchers are now waiting to see the costing mechanism and other fine details of the program, AfricanNews Reports.
