Peter lives near Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, with his mother and three younger sisters. He attended school through the ninth grade, but after his father died, his mother could no longer pay his school fees, forcing him to drop out at age 15. Now 17, Peter helps his mother sell goods and occasionally works at a carpentry shop. “I had no choice but to help her so that my little sisters could attend school,” he said. He hopes that his earnings will enable him to return to school and become an engineer. “If school were free, when my dad died, I would still be going to school. But because it’s expensive, I’m a school dropout.”

Peter’s experience reflects a broader reality. Liberia has one of the highest out-of-school rates in the world: Roughly one-third of all school-aged children (ages 3 to 17)—and half of rural children—have never attended school. Only 38 percent of children complete grade 6, and just 17 percent complete grade 9. On average, a child who enters school at age 4 will complete only 4.2 years of schooling by age 18.

By law, education in Liberia from grades 1 to 9 is compulsory and free, but in practice, children at all levels—from early childhood education (ECE) through senior secondary—must pay registration fees and other costs to attend public schools. For low-income and rural families, these costs frequently put schooling out of reach or impose severe hardship. As a result, many children start school years late, attend irregularly, engage in child labour, or drop out entirely. Many never attend at all.

Based on interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch between November 2025 and January 2026­­—including 118 parents, teachers, and school administrators, as well as peer-to-peer interviews with 61 children and youth—school fees and related costs emerged consistently as one of the most significant barriers to education.

Report by the Human Rights Watch