Liberia_Education_Sector_Analysis_(Nov_2016).pdf

November 2016

Liberia Education Sector Analysis

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

Republic of Liberia

Acknowledgements

This report is the result of a collaborative effort by the Government of Liberia, the World Bank and other education sector stakeholders in Liberia. This Education Sector Analysis (ESA) serves three purposes: (i) to assess the recovery and performance of the education sector in Liberia since 2006, (ii) to evaluate the influence and effectiveness of policies, interventions, and investments, and, (iii) to inform the development of new strategic priorities, plans, and policies in Liberia’s Education Sector.

The core ESA development and drafting team included members from the Ministry of Education

Department of Planning, led by Deputy Minister A. Nimely, and supported by E. Jappah, M.

Gorveaboe, T. Clarke, M. Prowd, A., Mbolonda, M. Hinneh, N. Sikeley, R. Beyan, Jr., B.

Massaquoi, T. C. Kollie, J. Gbasakollie, L. Gaydeh, and D. Baysah. This team developed the outline of the ESP chapters and identified critical themes and issues in each thematic area.

The ESA drafting team is grateful for the engagement of Minister of Education, G. Werner;

Deputy Minister for Instruction, R. Horton; Deputy Minister for Administration, A. Tingba;

Assistant Minister for HRD and Fiscal Affairs, G. Gbilia; Assistant Minister for Basic and

Secondary Education, F. Doe-Sumah; Assistant Minister for Teacher Education, A. Wright ;

Assistant Minister for Planning, A.D. Gbormie; Assistant Minister for ECE Y. Ammon;

Assistant Minister for TVTE, S. Dukly. Assistant Minister for Student Personnel Services, A.

Kuleh; Assistant Minister for General Administration A. Kimber and support from K. McLaren and N. Makan. The MoE EMIS team, led by L. Zinnah played an important role in providing updated school census data for the 2015 school year.

The World Bank team consisted of Peter Darvas, Yinan Zhang, David Balwanz, Jonathan

Caseley, Rich Jones, Yijun Shen, Kabira Namit, Fahim Akbar, Signe Sorensen, Shawn Powers and Fei Yuan. Participation from development partners, including EU, UNICEF and USAID and members of the NGO forum also played an important role in providing feedback and suggestions during early stage drafts of the ESA.

The work on this report was financed through an Education Sector Plan Development Grant from the Global Partnership for Education and administered by the World Bank.

Preface: Liberia Education Sector SWOT

The Liberia Education Sector and the Ministry of Education have several strengths to draw on to drive reform. The Education Sector Analysis provides background data and analysis on each of the issues identified in the below table. In terms of strengths, the robust demand for education coupled with the reform agenda outlined in Getting to Best offers a clear and focused path toward improving human development in Liberia. Key to the reform agenda is making progress on addressing key quality issues identified in the ESA including a focus on improving learning outcomes, ongoing professional development of the teaching force and strengthening school levels support, monitoring and supervision.

Positive reform momentum, government commitment to increase sector financing, and a broad constituency for reform are opportunities to be leveraged to accelerate sector development. Reform momentum, based on the success of recent reforms, and the development of a reform constituency with a broad base of stakeholders in the Ministry of Education, the

Cabinet, Parliament, other stakeholders in civil society and at decentralized levels each represent important, if tenuous opportunities. Threats, which come from ‘outside’ the sector include:

external shocks (i.e., macro-economic environment, food and climate shocks, and disease);

population vulnerability (i.e., high levels of poverty, insecurity, and malnutrition) and patterns of marginalization and exclusion. Here effective MoE policy could play an important role in extending educational services to Liberia’s most vulnerable populations. This ESA builds on previous analytical and planning exercises, as well as new data and consultations, to identify the below strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats which in turn can better orient the sector toward attaining the developmental vision outlined in the Agenda for Transformation: that

Liberia move toward a more equal, just, secure and prosperous society.

Liberia Education Sector SWOT

Strengths Weaknesses

Robust demand for education

Recent successful reforms

Focused reform agenda

Large non-government supply of education

Strong history in rebuilding the sector

Educational quality: learning outcomes, quality standards, teachers

Teacher support and supervision

Sector financing

Opportunities Threats

Positive reform momentum

GoL commitment to increase funding to education

Broad reform constituency

External shocks

Population vulnerability

Patterns of marginalization and disparity

Contents Acknowledgements

Preface: Liberia Education Sector SWOT

Executive Summary

Chapter 1: Country Context

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Political Geography

1.2 The Demographic and Social Contexts

1.3 Fragility and Vulnerability

1.4 The Macroeconomic Context

1.5 Government Finance

1.6 Developmental Vision

Chapter 2 Human Capital Formation

2.1 Education Attainment

2.2 Literacy

Chapter 3: Enrollment, completion and exclusion from basic education

3.0 Introduction

3.1 The Education Ladder in Liberia

3.2 Enrollment

3.2.1 ECE

3.2.2 Lower basic

3.2.3 Upper basic

3.2.3 Senior high

3.3 Private, mission and community schools

3.4 Supply and demand side issues in access, retention, and completion

3.4.1 Children not enrolled in school

3.4.2: Access to education: demand-side barriers

3.4.3: Basic education completion, survival and demand side barriers

3.4.4: Supply-side barriers in basic education access and retention

3.5 Overage enrolment

3.6 Zones of Exclusion

3.6.1 Zones of Exclusion Framework

3.6.2 Zones of Exclusion in Liberia

3.6.3 Policy and program implications

Chapter 4: Equity

4.1 Gender Equity

4.2 Equity in the distribution of education resources

4.2.1 Teacher distribution

4.2.2 Infrastructure distribution

Chapter 5: Educational Quality and Learning Outcomes

5.0 Overview

5.1 Literacy in Early Grades

5.1.1 Findings from three baseline studies in reading

5.1.2 Impact of reading interventions

5.2 Grade 9 and Grade 12 assessments

5.2.1 Liberia Junior High School Certificate Examination

5.2.2 Liberia Senior High School Certificate Examination

5.3 Curriculum and Textbooks

5.3.1 Curriculum

5.3.2 Literacy Instruction

5.3.3 Textbooks and Learning Materials

5.4 School Infrastructure

5.5 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Facilities

5.6 School Quality Standards

5.7 School Improvement and School Grants

Chapter 6: Gender, Violence, Inclusion and Health

6.1 Girls Education

6.1.1 Policy and legal

6.1.2 Data on Gender Equity

6.1.3 Pregnancy discrimination

6.1.4 Successful programs

6.2 Violence and Gender-based Violence

6.2.1: Gender-based violence

6.2.2: Violence at school

6.3 Disability and Inclusive Education

6.4 School Health and Nutrition

Chapter 7: Teachers, Teacher Management and Teacher Education

7.1 The Teaching Force

Teacher Supply

Teacher qualification

Teacher student ratios and distribution

Women Teachers

Rural Teachers

7.2 Teacher Payroll

Teacher Payroll Verification

Background on payroll verification

Supplementary payroll and volunteer teachers

7.3 Teacher Management and Accountability

Policy and Legal Context

Teacher Conditions of Service and Support Systems

Teacher Management and Absenteeism

7.4 Teacher Education

Teacher Qualification

Teacher Production

Teacher Education Programs

Future directions in Teacher Education

Chapter 8: Early Childhood Education

8.1 Overview

8.2 Main Issues

8.2.1 Overage Enrollment

8.2.2 ECE Quality

8.2.3 Parental Awareness

Chapter 9: Alternative Education

9.1 Overview

9.2 Accelerated Learning Program (ALP)

9.3 Alternative Basic Education

9.4 Achievements and Harmonization

9.5 Challenges in Alternative Education

Chapter 10: Relevance

10.1 Economic Outcomes

Labor Market Participation

Education and the labor market

10.2 Social Outcomes

Chapter11: Education Finance and Expenditure

11.1 Public Expenditure

11.1.1 Overview

11.1.2 Sources of Financing

11.1.3 Expenditure by Level of Education

11.1.4 Unit Cost

11.2 Ministry of Education Expenditure

11.2.1 Payroll Expenditure

11.2.2 Subsidy Expenditure

11.2.3 Scholarship and Grant Expenditure

11.2.4 Capital Expenditure

11.3 Donor Support

11.4 Private Education Cost

11.5 Household Expenditure on Education

11.6 Concession Agreements

Chapter 12: Governance, Management and Accountability

12.1 Education Governance

National Level Structures

County School System

12.2 Sector Planning, Monitoring and Policy Evaluation and Research

Sector Planning and Analysis

Sector Monitoring and EMIS

Evaluation and Policy-relevant Research

12.3 County and District Level Monitoring and Accountability

12.4 Partnerships

12.5 Civil Society and Social Accountability

12.5 Principals and School Management

Chapter 13: Technical and Vocational Education and Training

13.0 Key Points

13.1 Overview

Legal and Policy Context

13.2 Description of the TVET sector in Liberia

Training Providers

Training Institutions and Enrolment

Skills Areas

Teaching Workforce and Quality of TVET

Education and Employment TVET Pathways

Resourcing

13.3 Achievements

13.4 Programs

13.5 Challenges in TVET

Chapter 14: Higher Education

14.0 Key points

14.1 Background

14.2 HEIs and Enrollment

Higher Education Institutions

Enrollment in HEIs

HEI enrollment projections

Equity

14.3 Quality and Relevance

Student Quality

HEI Faculty

Infrastructure and equipment

Curriculum quality and relevance

14.4 HEI Finance and Expenditure

Annexes

A1. Population projections and EMIS data

A2. ESA Methodology

A3. School Profiles

A4. Resources

A5. Results of ESP 2010-2020 Rapid Assessment

Executive Summary

This Education Sector Analysis serves three purposes: (i) to assess the recovery and performance of the education sector in Liberia since 2006, (ii) to evaluate the influence and effectiveness of policies, interventions, and investments, and, (iii) to inform the development of new strategic priorities, plans, and policies in Liberia’s Education Sector.

County Context

Liberia, a small English-speaking West African country, became independent on July 26, 1847 and is Africa’s oldest Republic. After nearly 30 years of intermittent war which claimed an estimated 270,000 lives, Liberia, in 2003, transitioned to a state of peace and stability.

Liberia has a population of approximately 4 million people – 60 percent of whom are under the age of 24 (LISGIS projections, 2014). The population is composed of over 18 indigenous ethnic groups in addition to the descendants of enfranchised American slaves who founded modern

Liberia in the 1820s. Liberia is organized unto 15 counties – though the majority of the population lives in Montserrado County (which includes the country capital, Monrovia) followed by Lofa, Bong, Nimba, and Grand Bassa counties.

Liberia has made significant gains in human development, however Liberia’s human development indicators remain low in comparison to most other countries. Since 2003, GNI per capita in Liberia has nearly doubled and life expectancy at birth has increased by more than 8 years. Notably, female literacy has realized significant increases over the past eight years.

According to Demographic and Household Survey (DHS) household surveys, women’s literacy has increased from 41% (in 2007) to 48% (in 2013). In 2013, 69% of 15-19 year old females were literate, compared to 29% of females aged 40-44 suggesting great gains among younger females in literacy acquisition. However, from a comparative perspective, Liberia’s progress over the past decade lags behind many other countries and Liberia continues to have one of the lowest human development indexes in the world, ranking 177 out of 188 countries in 2015 (UN

Human Development Report 2015).

Poverty remains a considerable socioeconomic issue for Liberia. Nearly 70% of the population in Liberia lives on less than $1.90 per day, 20 percentage points higher than other developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A large share of Liberian children and youth are vulnerable and large numbers face multiple forms of exclusion. A number of social and economic factors contribute to the vulnerability of Liberian children and youth, including malnutrition (resulting in child stunting), poor health or disability, poor food security, and extreme poverty. Children and youth in poor households are also more vulnerable to external shocks (i.e., draught/flooding, disease / epidemics) and are more likely to be engaged in household economic and income generation activities (many of which are informal) at an early age. The vulnerability, when coupled with other variables of disadvantage and disparity, such as rural status, being in a household where the head is not literate or has low educational attainment, being a girl child, or going to an inadequately resourced school make it so that some children are more likely to be excluded from education, and improved life chances, than others. Notably, nearly 32% of children in Liberia suffer from stunting (WHO, World Bank statistics 2013) and nearly 40% of adolescents (aged

15-17) are working (WTS 2012).

Poverty and economic inequality are deeply rooted in the bifurcated structure of the

Liberian economy. On the one hand is economic activity which focuses on the export of commodities (i.e., rubber and iron ore) and is subject to the macro-economic uncertainty. On the other hand, is livelihood activities and vulnerable work (i.e., subsistence agriculture, piecework, small scale shops and services) – on which the majority of Liberians are engaged.

Liberia has made substantial political, economic and social progress since the end of the 14-year civil war in 2003. In 2003 Liberia transitioned to a state of peace and stability and, as families and communities rebuilt their lives, the Liberian government began the work of post-conflict reconstruction and stabilization. By 2013, after a decade of work, the Government of

Liberia outlined an Agenda for Transformation, which sought to build on ten years of stability, and outlined a vision for inclusive growth.

Liberia is struggling to recover from the twin shocks of the Ebola crisis and the sharp decline in commodity prices. Before the Ebola outbreak, Liberia experienced rapid economic growth following the post-conflict boost. The annual growth averaged at 7% between 2009-13, one of the highest GDP growth rates in the world. However, affected by the decline in mining production and prices, the economy has been projected to decline in 2014 and the Ebola outbreak extremely plunged the country into economic depression. Liberia’s economy deteriorated further in 2015, with GDP growth of 0.3%, down from 0.7% in 2014. The IMF forecasted a recovery of the economy with GDP growth of 2.5% (WEO, 2016). Liberia faces a severely constrained macro-economic and budgetary environment and weak growth prospects over the medium term.

Government revenue had increased steadily as a share of GDP during 2004-13 and is expected to continue this trend over the medium term. Tax revenue had increased and external debt had been reduced significantly thanks to substantial debt relief. Prudent fiscal policy and strengthened public financial management contributed to a near doubling of government revenue, resumption of direct budget support, and initiation of significant infrastructure development projects without accumulation of expenditure arrears. The projected tax revenue under FY2015 budget was revised down by 18% to accommodate the expected impacts of Ebola, nevertheless, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) collected tax higher than pre-Ebola project by 0.7 percentage points, which contributed to an overall accommodative fiscal position during the crisis. Thanks to tax reforms and the economic recovery, domestic revenue is expected to increase by 1.7% of FY2016 GDP (IMF, 2015a).

Human Capital Formation

The Liberian population has realized great gains in educational attainment since 1980.

Compared to 30 years ago, an additional 25% of population has gained access to education.

Attainment of primary education and tertiary education has more than doubled, and attainment of secondary education has realized significant gains. Nevertheless, in Liberia, 47.3% of the population has no education, which is above the regional average of 34%.

Figure ES-A: Educational attainment of the whole population

Source: Barro-Lee 2010

Youth has also realized significant gains in educational attainment. More than half of youth population (age 15-35) have attained secondary and/or higher education and 80% of 15 to 24 year-olds can read and write.

Figure ES-B: Educational attainment of the youth (age 15-35)

Source: DHS 2007 and SWTS 2012

There is strong imbalance of literacy by gender, locality and wealth groups. Female, the poor and rural populations are less likely to be able to read and write. Strikingly, for the three cohorts in the middle (age 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54), the literacy gaps remain almost constant over time, which implies no improvement in reducing imbalances within different groups.

Promisingly, the literacy gap between male and female is narrowing down in the youngest cohort, and the same trend is seen in locality and wealth groups although the gaps are still pretty large, around 20%.

Figure ES-C: Literacy by gender, locality and wealth

No education

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

14.1%

11.4%

72.9%

1.6%

No Education

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

20%

28.9%

47.3%

3.8%

No Education

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

3.2%

32.8%

27.7%

36.4%

No Education

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

9.8%

45.9%

36.5%

7.9%

Source: HIES 2014

Enrolment, Completion and Exclusion

Over the past thirty-five years, enrollment in ECE, basic and secondary education in

Liberia has increased nearly five-fold. Tables ES-1 provides selected enrollment data from

1981 to 2015. The system enrolled 303,168 students in 1981 and over 1.46 million students in

2015. More children are reaching Junior High Schools (JH) and Senior High Schools (SH) than ever before in the history of the country. The high level of enrollment has placed significant pressure on government resources – including government provision of teachers and classrooms at all levels.

Table ES-1: Number of students enrolled by school level, various years

Level 1981 1984 2005/06 2007/08 2015

ECE 91,394 96,813 358,210 491,564 539,660

Primary 155,166 146,476 488,438 539,887 655,049

Junior

High 34,365 40,307 98,448 102,642 166,957

Senior

High 22,243 25,359 33,776 55,600 105,875

Total 303,168 308,955 978,872 1,189,693 1,467,541

Source: EMIS in respective years, World Bank 2010

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64

Urban Rural Bottom 40% Top 20% Male Female

Non-government schools (private, mission and community schools) account for 46% of student enrolment (Table ES-2) in Liberia. At the JH and SH level, non-government schools account for the majority of enrollment. In 2015, private and mission schools accounted for 41% of ECE enrollment, 44% of primary school enrolment, 55% of JH enrolment and 77% of SH enrolment. It is notable that the share of primary enrollment in private schools has grown over the past eight years. The share of primary enrolment in private schools has increased from

18.3% in 2007/08 to 29.8% in 2015. Enrollment share in government and community primary schools has realized slight declines during this same timeframe.

Table ES-2: Share of student enrolment, by ownership 2015

ECE Primary Junior High Senior High

Public 52.2% 51.5% 41.3% 30.9%

Private 28.7% 29.6% 36.8% 38.8%

Mission 12.6% 13.2% 18.8% 28.4%

Community 6.4% 5.7% 3.1% 1.9%

Source: EMIS 2015

Overage enrollment is a significant challenge at all levels of education. Approximately 40% of primary school students are three years older or more than the appropriate age for their grade. Figure ES-D shows the age distribution of enrolment in primary education for Grades 1-

6. Each line represents a grade; the x-axis is comprised of age groups, while the y-axis shows the number of children enrolled at each age group in each grade. The figure highlights two critical features of overage enrolment in Liberia.

First, at all primary grade levels, the majority of enrolled students are 3-6 years older than the official age for the grade.

Second, there is a wide distribution of age-ranges in each grade. Specifically, there is no age group which accounts for more than 20% of enrollment in a particular grade.

Figure ES-D: Age distribution of enrolment, primary grades 1-6

Blue Line is Grade 1, Red Line is Grade 2, Green Line is Grade 3. The y-axis is the number of students enrolled.

The x-axis is the age of the student.

Why is overage enrollment a problem? Children who are overage are less likely to attend school regularly, less likely to become literate, more likely to face academic, social and disciplinary challenges, and more likely to drop out, compared to children who are at the appropriate age-in-grade (Ampiah, 2010, Lewin, et al 2011, UNESCO 2016, Liberia MoE 2010).

Overage children are often silently excluded, meaning that while they are technically enrolled in school, they may attend less frequently, come to school late (because of household chores) and may be more likely to not participate in learning activities.

The primary education completion rate has increased from 43% in 2007 to 54% in 2013

(DHS 2007, DHS 2013).

Of children who enroll in school, 69% ‘survive’ to Grade 6 and 59% ‘survive’ to Grade 9.

Figure ES-E offers a cohort grade survival profile using DHS data from 2007 and 2013. The profile identifies the share of children who complete each grade and allows us to see the estimated grade-to-grade progression of a current cohort. The 2013 data on survival shows a marked improvement over the 2007 data in all grades, excepting Grade 9.

The primary completion rate definition used by DHS is “the percentage of young people aged 15-24 years who have completed primary school.”

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

Age 5 Age 6 Age 7 Age 8 Age 9 Age 10 Age 11 Age 12 Age 13 Age 14 Age 15 Age 16

Primary Student Enrollment by Grade and Age

Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

Figure ES-E: Cohort Grade Survival Profile, children aged 10-19, DHS 2007, 2013

A number of supply and demand side variables influence incidence of late enrollment / overage enrollment, access to basic education, and retention in basic education. Each of these issues indicators are related to the goal of achieving universal completion of basic education. Based on a review of a variety of data sources (CWIQ 2010, DHS 2013, HIES 2014, UNICEF 2012) three of the most prominent issues appear to be:

the adverse effects of poverty, school costs and fees, the influence of household economic and income generating activities, and the significant negative influence of late enrollment and overage enrollment

Parental beliefs (that a child is too young for school) and the distance from home to school are also identified as factors which contribute to late enrollment, which in turn, appears to negatively affect retention. Gender also acts as a demand side constraint. The primary completion rate for boy children is 62% while that for girl children is 47% (DHS 2013).

Compared to children from wealthy and urban households, children from poor and rural households are less likely to attain basic education (Figure ES-F). According to DHS 2013, fewer than 47% of youth aged 10-19 from households in the lower two wealth survive to Grade

6, compared to 88% of the same population from households in the top wealth quintile.

Similarly, 70% of youth aged 10-19 in urban areas survive till grade 9, compared to 35% of the same population in rural areas.

75%

72%

66%

60%

80% 79%

77%

74%

72%

69%

65%

62%

59%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9

2007 2013

Figure ES-F: Educational Attainment of youth aged 10-19 disaggregated by urban rural status and wealth quintile, DHS 2013

Source: Filmer, Deon (2010) based on DHS 2013

A ‘Montserrado’ effect: How does one county influences nationwide indicators? The ESA provides an overview of data at national and sub-national levels. However, from time to time, it is important to look at Montserrado county separate from the rest of the country. Data from

Montserrado county, the country’s economic hub, home to more than one-third of Liberians, and with a significant share of the most educated Liberians, significantly influence indicators measured at the national level. For example, measures of JH Net Enrollment Ratio(NER), girls enrollment in primary school, the number of private schools, the number of female teachers, and

Student Qualified Teacher Ratios (SQTR) are each influenced by a Montserrado effect (Table

ES-3). For example, at the upper basic level (Grades 7-9), Montserrado county accounts for 54% of student enrolment as it has 90,602 of the 166,957 JH students enrolled. The NER for upper basic education in Montserrado county is 91%. This figure is 35% higher than the countrywide

NER of 56%. If data from Montserrado county are not included, then the countrywide NER in upper basic education is 39 per cent. Similar trends appear across other indicators – for various reasons. Data on female teachers is especially interesting: nationwide approximately 20% of teachers are female, however 50% of all female teachers are in Montserrado county.

0.86 0.85 0.84 0.82

0.8 0.78

0.75 0.73

0.7 0.69 0.67

0.64 0.61

0.56 0.52

0.45

0.39 0.35

0.66 0.64

0.61 0.57

0.52

0.47

0.4

0.33

0.92 0.92 0.91 0.91

0.89 0.88

0.85 0.85 0.83

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Urban Rural Bottom 40% Top 20%

Table ES-3: Indicators influenced by a Montserrado effect

Montserrado county

The rest of the country

Upper Basic NER 91% 39%

Female Enrolment

Share (primary) 52.2% 46.9%

Number of private primary schools

1,126 432

Female Teachers 8,138 8,072

PQTR 33.8 43.5 (mean)

Source: EMIS 2015

Equity

Female literacy and education attainment rates have improved over the past eight years however, female educational attainment continues to lag behind that of males. Figure ES-G shows educational attainment of 15-24 year olds by gender using HIES 2014 data. More than

30% of males aged 15-24 have completed JH and/or attained a higher level of education while fewer than 15% of females have achieved a similar level of attainment. Notably only 29% of males have ‘no education’ compared to 43% of females aged 15-24. Liberia has realized recent improvements in the Gender Parity Index (GPI). At the primary and JH levels, GPI stands at 0.96 and 0.98, respectively.

Figure ES-G: Education attainment by gender, HIES 2014

24%

11%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Males, aged 15-24 Females, aged 15-24

Higher

SH

Complete JH

Incomplete JH

Complete primary

Incomplete Primary

No Education

Over the past eight years, girls have accounted for an increasing share of students sitting for Grade 9 and Grade 12 exams. The Liberia Junior High School Certificate Examination

(LJHCE) and Liberia Senior High School Certificate Examination (LSHCSCE), i.e. Grade 9 and

Grade 12 leaving exams, play a critical role in determining access to higher levels of education.

Over the past several years the share of girls sitting for these exams has realized regular increases. In recent years, girls’ pass rates lagged behind that of boys by 2-5%.

Table ES-4: Share of females sitting for LJHCE, 2012-2014

Year LJHCE

(Female share)

LSHCE

(Female share)

2007 No data 36%

2012 44.0% 42.7%

2013 45.3% 43.8%

2014 46.0% 45.8%

Source: WAEC

The distribution of key educational inputs, especially trained teachers, shows high levels of disparity. The distribution of teachers, trained teachers, classrooms and textbooks among primary schools varies greatly. According to Educational Management Information System

(EMIS) 2015, the range of in the student-teacher ratio (across all schools and all levels of education) is from 21.1 to 40.6, with a mean of 27.0. In six counties, the STR is above 35

(Figure ES-H). The range of the student-qualified teacher ratio (across all schools and all levels of education) is from 33.8 to 90.0 with a mean of 43.5. In eight counties, the SQTR is above 60

(Figure ES-H). These disparities are important as: (i) teachers account for approximately 85% of

MoE expenditure and (ii) access to a trained teacher is generally associated with a higher standard of quality. The disparity in the allocation of teachers and qualified teachers can serve as a proxy for the disparity in the allocation of MoE expenditure on education since salaries account for such a large share of MoE expenditures.

Figure ES-H: Student Teacher Ratio by county

There do not appear to be operationalized policy or systems which seek to address disparities in the allocation of inputs and resources. There is no policy or system in place to incentivize qualified teachers or female teachers to serve in rural or undesirable areas, nor is there support offered to teachers already working in these areas. There does not appear to be clear policy, or guidance, for making decisions on where to build new infrastructure (i.e., classrooms and WASH facilities) or for prioritizing the repair of existing infrastructure.

Quality and Learning Outcomes

Most available data indicate that student literacy levels in early grades in Liberia are low.

Over the past eight years, there have been three baseline studies of early grades literacy in

Liberian schools. In each of the three baseline studies, the mean scores of Grade 3 students in connected text oral reading fluency came in below 25 correct words per minute (see Table ES-5).

In the Education Quality and Access in Liberia (EQUAL) study, the grade 3 student mean scores in oral reading fluency was 19.9 correct words per minute, compared to the mean score of 25 correct words per minute found in Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) Plus, and 18.9 in

Grade 3, Cohort 2 of the Liberia Teacher Training Program (LTTP) II study. International benchmarks identify an oral reading fluency of between 45-65 correct words per minute to be strongly associated with comprehension and ‘literacy’ (RTI 2010).

Table ES-5: EGRA Plus, LTTPII, and EQUAL results of Grade 2 and 3 students

EGRAPLUS LTTPII EQUAL

Sub-test Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 3

Cohort 1

Grade 3

Cohort2

Grade 2 Grade 3

Letter naming 55 67 72.0 65.2 69.6 84.2

RTI (2009:6) provides definitions for each sub-test. The EGLA test scores phonemic awareness as a percentage, rather than out of 10.

21.1

26.4 27.0 29.1

30.1 30.7 30.7

32.3 32.8 33.7

35.5 37.7

38.8 39.2 39.4 40.6

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

STUDENT TEACHER RATIO (STR) BY COUNTY

Oral reading fluency

(per minute)

14.5 25.1 7.6 18.9 10.4 19.9

Reading Comprehension

(average score out of 5 questions)

22% 26% 10% 20% - -

Source: RTI 2009; King et al 2015, Hobbs and Davidson 2015

Student performance on EGRA assessments are unevenly distributed, with a large share of students earning ‘zero scores’ on several sub-tests. A ‘zero score’ is when a student fails to answer a single question on a sub-test correctly. In oral reading fluency sub-section of the

EGRA assessment, nearly 35% of grade 2 students and 17% of grade 3 students did not read a single word. Compared to the EGRA assessment, zero scores in the EQUAL sample were lower with 20.9% of grade 2 students and 7.5% of grade 3 students earning zero scores in the oral reading fluency sub-test.

The uneven distribution of reading outcomes indicates that some children are likely to require more support than others in acquiring literacy. In Liberia, high poverty households and households in rural or remote areas are more likely to be headed by an individual with lower levels of literacy and educational attainment than the general population (DHS 2013).

International evidence suggests that children from these households are also likely to score lower on reading assessments. Because of these structural disadvantages, children from poor and rural households are more likely to require additional support (e.g., access to an effective teachers and reading materials and more instructional time) than children from a household where one or both parents can read and write in English.

While an increasing number of students are taking the LJHCE and the LSHCE, pass rates have dropped, raising concerns about the quality of basic and secondary education.

LJHCE pass rates dropped from 95% to 59% between 2007 and 2014 and LSHCE pass rates dropped from 81% to 48% during the same time frame. Further evidencing this concern, in 2015, zero out of over 25,000 students sitting for the University of Liberia entrance exam passed.

Table ES-6: LJHCE Pass Rates, by gender, 2012-2014

Year Pass Rate

(male)

Pass Rate

(female)

Pass Rate

(total)

2012 85.6% 81.5% 83.8%

2013 84.3% 79.3% 82.0%

2014 61.8% 55.8% 59.0%

Table ES-7: LSHCE Pass Rates, by gender, 2012-2014

Year Pass Rate

(male)

Pass Rate

(female)

Pass Rate

(total)

2007 81.3% 79.8% 81%%

2012 74.8% 69.5% 72.5%

2013 69.5% 69.7% 69.6%

2014 48.5% 44.8% 46.8%

Pupil textbook ratios at government and community primary schools have seen recent improvements – especially in public primary schools and secondary schools. Over the past decade, however, textbook procurement and replenishment has been irregular with large procurements generally funded by external resources.

Liberia has made progress increasing the number of solid and semi-solid classrooms, however high student enrolment, especially in government school, has led to high student classroom ratios. Since 2008, Liberia has added 372 government primary schools– representing an increase of 15% in the number of government schools offering primary education. However because of high demand and limited resources, over 36% of early childhood education (ECE) classrooms and nearly 30% of primary school classrooms are located in “make-shift” and

“partitioned” structure. The Student Classroom Ratio (SCR) for ECE government schools stands at 64.4. In addition to classroom infrastructure, there is also a high demand for water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities (e.g., water points, latrines, and hand washing) – with a greater need in rural schools (UNICIEF 2016).

The MoE has not yet finalized school quality standards, nor has it developed uniform tools for school inspection and monitoring school quality. The MoE has several policy documents and concept papers which offer guidance on defining ‘school quality’ and provide frameworks for developing school quality standards and monitoring tools. However these documents have not yet been translated into tools which could be used by district education officers (DEOs), school principals and communities to monitor and improve school quality.

Gender, inclusion and school violence

Women and girls are under-represented in nearly all levels of education, including upper basic, senior high, TVET, tertiary education, RTTIs and the teaching force. Women account for 37% of students enrolled in higher education in Liberia and just over 25% of students enrolled in the University of Liberia (NCHE 2012). Women are especially underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. In 2012, for instance, just 4.8

% of women graduating from tertiary education had completed science programs.

Pregnancy interrupts the education of a large number of Liberian girls and young women.

In a nation-wide study, 67% of households responding to questions about reasons for not enrolling in school reported that pregnancy was the main reason that a girl in the household had dropped out of school.

Note that for many students, drop-out is precipitated by being directed to attend night school whilst they are pregnant. Further evidencing this challenge, UNFPA (2008) found that 38% of women aged 20-24 gave birth by the age of 18. This is a very significant proportion of the school-age population, especially as nearly all students are over-age for the grade in which they are enrolled. Thus, in addition to very young mothers, there are many overage students in basic education, including in primary school, who become pregnant.

Liberia Country Study: Profiles of Children Out of School, Subah-Belleh Associates, UNESCO Institute of Statistics and UNICEF, 2012.

Abuse, violence, sexual harassment and more severe forms of gender based violence are reported to present in many Liberian schools. The issues of ‘sex for grades’ has been raised by several reports (Passing the Test 2014, MoE 2015, Street Child 2016). This sexual exploitation is when teachers engaging in transactional sex or threatening students with failure. ‘Sex for grades’ is often represented as a form of bribery, and public discussions often focus on discouraging girls from engaging in transactional sex. ESA consultations suggested that district level accountability

(i.e., school-related gender-based violence reporting, referral and persecution) is a critical gap in responding to and reducing the level of School-Related Gender-Based Violence. During ESA consultations, several stakeholders identified the lack of ‘referral structures’ and the lack of

‘monitoring and accountability at the district levels’ as the main barriers to reducing the level of violence and gender-based violence in schools.

Several MoE-led and supported initiatives have started to work toward addressing school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) and other school violence and safety concerns.

Several stakeholders expressed the need to raise awareness of inclusive education and to provide more aggressive policy and implementation support to inclusive education and children with special needs. The MoE has a Division of Special and Inclusive Education which has a mission to promote the inclusion of children and young people with disabilities and/or special needs in the general Liberian School System. At present there is no policy on, or budget for, inclusive education. According to MoE, Inclusive Education is a process that seeks to increase the participation of children with disabilities and reduce exclusion by providing an effective response to the various needs of all the learners.

Some of the main issues identified during ESA consultations include, (i) that EMIS severely undercounts the number of children with special needs in Liberian schools and (ii) that Rural

Teacher Training Institutes (RTTIs) offer no training for teachers on addressing inclusive education needs. Currently the EMIS form only asks for information on children who are deaf or blind. Inclusive education stakeholders argue that EMIS should also track, and raise awareness of, children who are emotionally disturbed, children with learning disabilities, children who are visually impaired, and children with other challenges identified in the table below.

Teachers and Teacher Education

Over the past eight years, the size of the teaching force has more than doubled from 26,359 teachers to 55,243 teachers. The size of the teaching force at the JH and SH levels has realized the highest level of growth – with JH teachers growing by more than 50% and the SH teachers increasing by approximately 80%. Again, since teachers work at multiple levels, a teacher may be double counted in the levels they are teaching. Table ES-8 provides both figures: the total number of teaching staff including double counting and the total number of teaching staff not including double counting.

Table ES-8: Number of teachers by school level, 2007/08 and 2015

Level 2007/08 2015

ECE 11,778 14,311

Primary 22,253 30,438

Junior High 8,228 12,983

Senior High 3,652 6,549

Total (double count) 45,911 65,359

Total teaching staff 26,359 55,243

Source: EMIS in respective years

The teacher workforce in Liberia by level of education and school ownership for 2015 is shown in Table ES-9. The majority of teachers work in the primary level and a near equal number of teachers work at the ECE and JH level. The majority of JH and SH teachers are employed in private and mission schools. Nearly 10,000 teachers work at multiple levels and are thus counted twice in the below table. For example, a teacher teaching at the primary and JH level is counted as both a primary and JH teacher. Because of this, while the school census counts each teacher only once (i.e., there are 55, 243 teachers), since over 10,000 teachers teach at multiple levels, the totals column adds up to 65,359. In 2015, nearly 8% of the teaching force was comprised of volunteer teachers who are not formally remunerated for their work.

Table ES-9: Teacher workforce by sector and type of school, all schools, unadjusted for multi-grade

Ownership ECE Primary Junior

High

Senior

High

TVET &

ALE

Total

Public 5,308 12,215 3,880 1,608 676 23,687

Private 5,668 10,808 5,537 2,890 356 25,259

Mission 2,479 5,676 3,072 1,916 69 13,212

Community 836 1,739 494 135 67 3,271

Total 14,311 30,438 12,983 6,549 1,168 65,359

Over the past decade, the number and share of qualified ECE and primary teachers has realized significant increases (see table ES-10). The share of qualified JH and SH teachers, on the other hand, has realized significant declines.

Table ES-10: Number of share of trained teachers by school level, various years

Level 2007/08 2015

This figure appears high, but the census report indicates that a large share of teachers worked at multiple levels

ECE 3,392 29% 7,048 49.2%

Primary 8,952 40.0% 18,975 62.3%

Junior High 4,755 57.8% 4,295 33.1%

Senior High 1,918 53% 2,219 33.9%

Source: EMIS in respective years

Female teachers are significantly under-represented in the MoE teaching force across all levels. Table ES-11 shows the number of female teachers and the female share of the teaching force by level. At the primary level, 21% of the teaching force is female, while at the JH and SH levels, female teachers account for 11% and 7%, respectively, of the teaching force. At the ECE level, 57% of teachers are female. While nearly half of Liberia’s teachers work in rural areas;

rural areas face severe difficulties in attracting and retaining teachers.

Table ES-11: Female share of the teaching force by level, 2015

ECE Primary Junior High

Senior

High

No. of Female

Teachers 8,145 6,262 1,368 435

Female Share of the teaching force 57% 21% 11% 7%

The MoE has completed the teacher verification exercise in three counties by the time of the report, Montserrado, Bong, and Nimba. The payroll for these three counties numbered nearly 8,500 MoE staff, equal to 42% of the total MoE payroll. The exercise identified over

1,300 staff who may be ‘ghosts’. Preliminary scans of payroll of the entire country by the LTTP

II project suggest that there may be up to 5,000 ghost teachers on payroll (MoE and LTTP II

2015). Payroll verification and teacher testing is an ongoing and funded MoE priority and will continue into 2017. To date, over 1,100 ghost teachers have been removed from payroll – resulting in a savings estimated to be greater than $1.5 million annually. In addition to identifying ghost names, the verification process has identified a large number of other irregularities, including underqualified teachers, teachers with fake or lost documents, underpaid teachers and overpaid teachers.

Nearly 26 percent of teachers working in government and community schools (ECE to senior high) are volunteer or “household” teachers. These are teachers who are not formally remunerated for their work and those who are paid by households.

High levels of teacher absenteeism, long term absenteeism, and post abandonment are seen as critical challenges facing the sector. In rural areas, teachers are often absent for many days because of the need to travel to banks to collect salaries. LTTP II (2016) notes that ‘Travel to collect paycheck’ and ‘money problems’ account for 30% of teacher absenteeism. Teachers are also called on to attend workshops and trainings – which results in their absence from school.

Unexcused teacher absence and practices such as coming in late to work, or dismissing class early and going home reinforce the challenge of improving teacher accountability and, the results of such absence – loss of instructional time. To address the challenge, the MoE began the process of installing biometric scanners and issuing biometric ID cards in 2014. The impact of this intervention is not yet known.

Many teachers face challenging working conditions on a daily basis and often receive limited institutional support. Many teachers work in the midst of unsafe and worn infrastructure, with insufficient resources (e.g., chalk, textbooks, curriculum guides), often with challenging housing or living situations (e.g., safe house, clean water, access to cell phone network) and face multiple issues in the classroom (i.e., classroom discipline, unfavorable pupil teacher ratio, multi-age / multi-level learners, etc.). New teachers, many of whom are young

Liberians at the start of their working life, are in need of support and guidance to help them address the varied challenges and opportunities they face as young professionals (MoE, draft

Educator Management Policy, 2015).

Teacher education faces new challenges and opportunities at all levels. At the primary level, Rural Teacher Training Institutes (RTTIs) have a capacity to train up to 800-1,000 new C-

Certificate (primary-school qualified) teachers annually using in-service and pre-service modalities. At the JH and SH levels, the MoE faces a severe shortage of qualified teachers. In

2016, the MoE re-activated, after a 20 year hiatus, implementation of an updated ‘B’ Certificate

(JH teacher qualification) program. At the ECE level, currently, there is no government-approved ECE teaching qualification. Policy decisions related to each of these issues affect teacher supply, teacher quality, and MoE expenditure.

ECE

There is a high and growing demand for Early Childhood Education (ECE) – which has severely stretched government human, financial and infrastructure resources. Notably, while ECE NER remains low (at 29.4%) the pupil teacher ratio and student classroom ratio in government schools are 37.7 and 64.4, respectively. Six counties have PTR greater than 50.

Considering the large numbers of children not accessing ECE, it is clear the sector will remain under pressure to expand.

Strengthening ECE quality, of teachers, curriculum, and instructional materials, has been identified as a critical concern by the MoE. At present, the vast majority of ECE teacher do not have ECE-specific training, except for a small number of teachers who participated in the pilot initiatives of the Bureau of Early Childhood Education. Some headway has been made with the development of an ECE curriculum and teaching and learning materials, but it remains at a nascent stage. A set of early childhood curriculum textbook and teacher planners have been developed for the first four months of the academic year (September to December), but the completion and adoption of the curriculum has yet to take place. The common material seen in an ECE class is neither age-appropriate nor sufficient for the large number of children the class accommodates.

Many families, especially in poor and deprived communities, may not understand the value of ECE. Further ECE fees policies may contribute to the exclusion of children from poor households. Recent policies have permitted public ECE centers to charge a fee of 3,500 Liberian dollars per semester (approximately 41 US dollars) to cover costs. However, there is no definitive data on how commonly fees are being charged across the country or what the average fee could be. Anecdotal evidence indicates that parents are concerned about the costs associated with ECE, including tuition, uniform, and transportation. This concern, about school costs, aligns with ESA findings at the primary and JH levels.

Overage enrollment is a major bottleneck at the ECE level. Based on the 2015 School

Census, nearly 50% of children enrolled in ECE are between the ages of 6-11. This means that there are over 250,000 children enrolled in ECE programs who should be enrolled in primary school.

Alternative Education

Alternative Education has reached a substantial number of children and youth over the past decade. The Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) and Alternative Basic Education

(ABE) are designed for providing education to overage children and youth, as well as young adults who are not enrolled (or are not allowed to enroll) in mainstream schools. After the announcement by the government to conclude the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), enrollment in ALP dropped drastically from 75,820 in 2008 to 2,396 in 2015. In recent years, ABE providers have enrolled over 10,000 students annually, with 58% of students being females.

There are mixed results of learning outcomes of students participating in Alternative

Education. Manda (2011) found that ALP learners performed at the same level, and, in some cases better, than learners enrolled in the conventional primary schools in the four core subjects

(Language Arts, Science, Mathematics and Social Studies). Assessment of the Advancing Youth

Program (AYP) identifies the low literacy skills of majority of the learners at baseline test and that current materials and instruction need to be adapted to suit the low performance reality.

The MoE in coordination with development partners and NGOs are working to develop a harmonized policy framework for alternative education. Such a framework would include space for an ‘accelerated learning’ program and adult education, and identify pathways from these program to further education, training and the world of work.

Alternative education (AE) programs do not appear to address the root causes of late enrollment, overage enrollment, lack of access to primary education and primary school dropout. Put another way, AE programs address an existing issue, the large number of 6-17 year old children and youth, who for various reasons, are not enrolled in school and the large number of young adults (aged 18-35) who want to complete their basic education / become functionally literate. Several evaluations highlight the value of these efforts, particularly in reaching vulnerable and marginalized populations, including girls and young women.