Liberia's New Generation
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Photo 1 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comLiberian law mandates free, compulsory education, but there are no places for as many as half the country's children. Ongoing conflict put an estimated 80% of the 2,400 schools that existed before the war out of operation. -
Photo 2 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comAs many as 800,000 Liberian children were displaced or forced to become child soldiers. Many are now selling wares in the street to pay for food. -
Photo 3 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comEducation officials say a new law imposing fines for lack of school attendance is aimed at child traffickers, who lure children to cities with the promise of money, only to exploit them. -
Photo 4 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comParents say they want their children to attend school, but fees at both private and public schools are often prohibitive. -
Photo 5 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comOnly about half of the 1.5 million children who should be attending school are doing so. The country's rate of illiteracy is over 70 per cent. -
Photo 6 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comGirls are the focus of a Liberian government effort to redress the imbalance that has kept girls out of school in larger numbers than boys or subjected them to exchanging sex for school fees. -
Photo 7 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comSome children work on the streets for half a day and attend school part time. -
Photo 8 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comThe Reverend Herbert Zigbuo at a United Methodist Church project in Ganta that educates former combatants. -
Photo 9 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comStudents at the Methodist-run school in Ganta are benefiting from school reconstruction. Enrollment rates for girls have increased 24 per cent since 2005 and 18 per cent for boys. -
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Photo 18 of 18Credit: allAfrica.comSix Scott Fellows, recruited by the Center for Global Development in Washington DC to work in short-staffed government ministries and agencies, include three young Liberians who were studying or working outside the country. In a visit with President Johnson Sirleaf, they said they were grateful to have a chance to contribute to rebuilding.
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