By Seltue Robert Karweaye Sr.
Policy Analyst and Researcher
The ongoing crisis within the Monrovia Consolidated School System (MCSS), which has forced students out of their classrooms and onto the streets of Monrovia, is not simply a dispute between teachers and the government. It is the consequence of nearly two decades of inadequate educational investment, misplaced national priorities, and failed political leadership under the Unity Party (UP) and Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).
For years, Liberia’s political leaders have treated education as a campaign slogan rather than a national development priority. They promise quality education during elections while public schools continue to struggle with poorly compensated teachers, inadequate classrooms, insufficient furniture, and deteriorating learning environments.
The current MCSS crisis exposes the accumulated consequences of those failures.
Teachers Are Not the Problem. Students Are Not the Problem.
For more than three weeks, MCSS teachers have reportedly engaged in industrial action over the government’s failure to fully implement the March 27, 2025, Memorandum of Understanding.
Their demands include placing qualified volunteer teachers on the national payroll, implementing promised salary adjustments, and addressing longstanding employment grievances.
These are legitimate concerns that a responsible government should resolve without allowing thousands of students to lose valuable instructional time.
Instead, frustrated students have taken to Monrovia’s streets, demanding that the government restore normal classroom instruction and address deteriorating school conditions.
What does it say about Liberia when children must protest simply to demand that their teachers be paid and their classrooms properly equipped?
The students are not responsible for this crisis. Neither are teachers who have repeatedly demanded that the government honor its commitments.
The real problem is a political establishment that has consistently failed to prioritize public education.
Twelve Years of Unity Party Rule: A Missed Opportunity
Between 2006 and 2018, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Unity Party administration enjoyed considerable international goodwill, development assistance, debt relief, and foreign investment commitments.
That period presented a historic opportunity to rebuild Liberia’s education system after fourteen years of civil conflict.
Although improvements were made in school access and infrastructure, the administration failed to establish a sufficiently funded, professionally managed, and sustainable public education system.
Teacher shortages, inadequate compensation, weak learning outcomes, and deteriorating facilities remained serious challenges.
The Unity Party had twelve years to build a strong educational foundation. Yet many public schools continued operating under unacceptable conditions.
President Joseph Boakai served as vice president throughout those twelve years. He cannot reasonably distance himself from the administration’s broader reconstruction record.
Six Years of CDC Rule: Change Without Transformation
When George Manneh Weah assumed the presidency in 2018, his CDC administration inherited an education system suffering from serious structural weaknesses.
However, inheriting problems does not excuse failing to address them.
The CDC introduced tuition-free policies at public universities and pursued other educational initiatives. While these measures deserve recognition, they did not fundamentally transform primary and secondary education.
Free university tuition means little to children who cannot obtain quality elementary and secondary education.
A school without qualified teachers, textbooks, desks, laboratories, and sanitation facilities cannot produce quality learning outcomes simply because politicians announce ambitious programs.
After six years of CDC leadership, Liberia continued confronting many of the educational problems inherited from the Unity Party.
Another opportunity for meaningful transformation had been squandered.
President Boakai Must Take Responsibility
President Boakai’s administration has been in office since January 2024. The government can no longer rely on inherited institutional weaknesses to explain its inability to resolve basic educational problems.
The March 2025 agreement with MCSS teachers was negotiated under his administration. Implementing that agreement is therefore his government’s responsibility.
If the government promised salary adjustments and payroll inclusion, it must explain why those commitments remain unresolved.
The Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Civil Service Agency, and MCSS administration must provide a clear implementation timetable.
Government officials should also avoid turning legitimate educational grievances into confrontations with teachers and students.
Warnings and political statements will not resolve this crisis.
Threats do not pay teachers. Political speeches do not repair classrooms. Government propaganda does not put qualified volunteer teachers on the payroll.
Only responsible leadership, adequate financing, and institutional accountability can restore public confidence.
Liberia’s Budget Reveals Its Priorities
The MCSS crisis also exposes fundamental weaknesses in Liberia’s public financial management.
Successive administrations have devoted substantial resources to recurrent expenditures while essential public services remain inadequately supported.
Recurrent spending is not inherently problematic. Teachers’ salaries, healthcare workers, and essential government operations are necessary expenditures.
The real issue is how public resources are distributed.
When senior government officials enjoy expensive vehicles, generous allowances, international travel, and administrative privileges while public school teachers struggle for adequate compensation, the problem becomes one of political priorities.
A government that can finance political privileges should demonstrate equal determination to finance public education.
Education spending must be measured not merely by budgetary allocations but by actual improvements in classrooms, teacher compensation, instructional materials, and student performance.
Public Education Must Not Become a Poor Man’s Burden
One of Liberia’s greatest contradictions is that many political leaders can afford expensive private education for their children while the children of market women, farmers, motorcycle riders, and low-income workers depend on struggling public schools.
When public schools close, ordinary Liberian families suffer disproportionately.
This inequality weakens political accountability because those responsible for managing public education are often insulated from its failures.
Quality public education must never become a privilege reserved for families with political connections or financial resources.
It is a fundamental responsibility of government.
What Must Change?
The Boakai administration must immediately publish the implementation status of the March 2025 agreement, establish a funded timetable for placing eligible volunteer teachers on the payroll, and address outstanding compensation commitments.
The Legislature must also review MCSS funding, school infrastructure, instructional materials, and educational administration.
Beyond the immediate dispute, Liberia needs a comprehensive national education recovery strategy emphasizing teacher training, competitive compensation, early childhood education, literacy, mathematics, science, technical education, and measurable learning outcomes.
Educational reform must become a sustained national commitment rather than a political program that changes whenever a new administration assumes office.
Conclusion: UP and CDC Must Answer for Liberia’s Educational Failures
The Unity Party governed Liberia for twelve years under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The CDC governed for six years under George Weah. The Unity Party returned to power in January 2024 under Joseph Boakai.
Together, these political establishments have dominated Liberia’s post-war executive leadership.
They have controlled national budgets, shaped public policies, negotiated international assistance, and promised educational transformation.
Yet Liberia continues to struggle with poorly compensated teachers, inadequate classrooms, weak learning outcomes, and recurring disputes over basic employment obligations.
The Unity Party cannot blame the CDC for everything because it governed before the CDC and now governs again.
The CDC cannot claim innocence because it controlled the presidency for six years without delivering the educational transformation Liberians deserved.
And President Boakai cannot continue blaming previous administrations while failing to fulfill commitments made by his own government.
The MCSS crisis is not simply about teachers demanding salaries. It is about a nation demanding accountability.
Liberia cannot build a prosperous future while allowing its public education system to deteriorate under political neglect.
After nearly two decades of UP and CDC dominance, Liberians deserve more than excuses, recycled promises, and political finger-pointing.
The government must resolve the immediate crisis, honor its commitments, and return students to their classrooms.
But the larger question remains: How many more generations of Liberian children must suffer before our political leaders finally make education a genuine national priority?
The students are not the problem. The teachers are not the problem.
The problem is a political leadership that has repeatedly failed Liberia’s public education system.
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