Published: October 16, 2026
MONROVIA – Students in the Monrovia Consolidated School System are out of class and protesting in the streets in the second month of the academic year, and the House of Representatives has summoned the Ministry of Education to plenary Tuesday to explain why.
The ministry is also expected to update lawmakers on the government’s plan to build 100 public schools nationwide.
Montserrado County District 16 Rep. Dixon Seboe said the House had already considered inviting the education minister, but the ongoing protests made immediate action necessary.
“I thought it was important for us to raise that issue quickly because, again, as it stands right now, students are out of school and they are protesting,” Seboe told reporters Thursday.
MCSS students took to the streets Wednesday to demand their teachers’ return. On Bushrod Island, protesters blocked major streets in the Duala community, chanting “No Teachers, No Roads.”
The protests followed a go-slow by MCSS teachers, who demand that the government place volunteer teachers on the payroll. Seboe said the dispute also involves salary adjustments and demands for pay based on professional qualifications.
Asked about protests at D. Twe High School, Seboe said the problem is not confined to one campus.
“What is happening at MCSS is not a D. Twe issue. It is the whole system,” he said.
He said free tuition means little if public schools lack teachers.
“Government has already done its part in terms of making sure that we have free tuition in schools that should be open,” he said. “And this month is the second month since school opened, and for our students to be out of school because teachers have issues or MCSS as an institution has an issue, we need to be able to resolve that.”
Lawmakers also questioned whether the free tuition policy for elementary schools has worsened the teacher shortage by eliminating fees some schools used to pay volunteer teachers.
Seboe called the teachers’ grievances genuine, especially on salaries and coverage for volunteer teachers, and said the Education and Finance ministries could make payments before the 2027 national budget is finalized “so that our students can go back to school.” Longer-term salary demands, he said, would need to be built into the 2027 budget, which lawmakers will take up shortly.
He said lawmakers chose to hear from the government institutions that run the school system first, rather than the MCSS Teachers Association, but he would engage the association’s leadership.
“If the need arises that we call on the MCSS Teachers Association, we’ll reach out to them,” he said.
Seboe appealed to students to remain calm while lawmakers and education officials seek a resolution. He said public schools should be raised to a standard comparable to or higher than private schools.
“There are a lot of people in the country who cannot afford to send their children to private schools,” he said.
On school construction, the government previously announced a US$89.6 million World Bank-funded initiative to build 100 schools over five years, as part of efforts to widen access to education, particularly in underserved rural communities.
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