Published: September 1, 2025
Worldwide, the first day of school is one of the most important and highly anticipated days of the year – regardless of what day it falls on. It is the day of hopes and dreams for students, families, communities, and nations. It is the day when the next generation – be they children, youth, or adults – begins or renews the process of realizing their potential and fulfilling their aspirations. It is the bedrock of an ever-advancing civilization and the foundation upon which progress is made by humanity.
Education requires three ingredients – students, teachers, and schools. When any one of them fails or is absent, education stalls. Students without teachers can’t learn and their potential dies on the vine. Teachers without students can’t transfer knowledge or nurture minds. And students or teachers without schools, without classrooms, without learning materials, without the implements of teaching and learning, are hindered from achieving the highest summits of learning – and also from joining their peers in the global community of reputable institutions of learning.
The University of Liberia has students, teachers, and classrooms. Our students are eager to learn. Our teachers are eager to teach. Our classrooms are eager to serve our teachers and students. Yet, challenges face them all. When teachers strike or go slow, our students don’t get the opportunity to complete their studies, pursue careers, or contribute their talents and passions to national development. When students strike or disrupt, teachers don’t get to complete their lessons, and students themselves suffer, as does the nation, including all their families and communities. When classrooms crumble or remain unimproved, the bright minds of students and brilliant intellects of faculty lack the tools to shine their light on the rest of society, and the purpose of education writ-large largely fails.
Most times, people identify the problem behind these problems as “resources,” i.e., money. That is one view – money is needed. Goodwill can’t buy new classroom equipment, especially the “good stuff” like smartboards, laptops, projectors, or specialized laboratory equipment; this requires hard cash or generous in-kind donations. Goodwill also can’t pay faculty salaries or the school fees of their offspring – this requires liquid cash. Goodwill can’t get students from all of Monrovia’s outlying areas to Capitol Hill or Fendall campus, particularly when many of them are choosing between transportation and food. These are realities.
UL’s budget has a structural problem that must be solved through a combination of a bigger tuition subsidy from the Government of Liberia, continued support from the UN System and our many friends in the diplomatic sector, significant fundraising with outside foundations, private sector actors, and individual donors, and the continued pursuit of faculty research funding as well as alumni support. UL must also do a careful study of whether our balance sheet would be better if we returned to a tuition-based system that also retains means of access for students with the least resources, or whether our balance sheet is better remaining on the tuition-free government subsidy system, all while acknowledging that this is the government’s decision to make.
It takes a lot of funding to run a flagship university that is worthy of its name – and one that equips its students and faculty to serve national development effectively. In fact, a well-run university is one of the most effective engines of national development, one of the most dependable producers of a nation’s middle class, and a major source of a nation’s intellectual vitality and cultural vibrance. We owe it to ourselves to make sure that the University of Liberia – its students, faculty, and classrooms – have the resources they need, because we will all benefit.
At the same time, students, faculty, staff, and administrators must also do their part. It is true that goodwill can’t pay the bills, but goodwill can compel us to work together cohesively to get through tough times, to bring our best and most industrious selves to school or work each day, and to use our limited resources in the most efficient and helpful way possible. These things are within our power, even when resources are thin or stretched. As my grandmother used to say, “Your attitude determines your altitude.”
So, as we begin a new school year, let’s all show up. Students, be in your classrooms and let your teachers know that learning is your priority. Teachers, join them, with lessons in hands. Staff and administrators, support them. Government, consider boosting UL’s subsidy for 2026. UN – with a big thanks to UNDP for its recent grant to UL – keep doing what you’re doing. Bilateral and diplomatic partners, let’s talk. Private sector entities, especially concessions, step up and donate to UL after meeting your other CSR (responsibilities.) Foundations, check us out – this is the new UL and we can do great things together. Because it takes a village to get the first day of school off to a great start!
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