The Government of Liberia has announced plan to offer scholarships to about 1,500 Liberians.

Deputy Education Minister Latim Dathong, made the disclosure last Thursday, 14 July at the Ministry of Information weekly press briefing held on Capitol Hill.

He said candidates must have a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.8 to qualify for the scholarship and interview will start soon.

"This is not a who know you thing, but it will be given on merits basis; The GPA to qualify you for the scholarships is 2.8."

At the same time, he disclosed that there are 1.4 million young people that are in school currently across the country, and that most of them are concentrated around Montserrado County.

Minister Dathong detailed that Montserrado along hosts 33.7 percent of this number followed by Nimba County, 13.7 percent; Lofa County, 6% and Margibi County 5.2 percent, respectively.

"These are the five counties that host most of the schools in Liberia, so when we dive into the statistics, we understand that the partnership in the private sector is critical for all Liberian citizens to go to school in the country", he noted.

He said there are a total of 6,500 schools across Liberia and of this number, 44.4 percent of them are public schools, while the rest are private and faith-based institutions, adding "So, the private and faith-based[schools] have even more than even that of the public schools." Editing by Jonathan Browne