Africa-Press – Liberia. The school, which once served over 100 children from nursery to Grade 6, has been operating with only two volunteer teachers for the past several years.
Dartuken Public School, a government-run elementary institution located in River Gee County’s District #1, Tienpo District, has been forced to close its doors after years of struggling with a critical shortage of teachers and lack of government support.
The school, which once served over 100 children from nursery to Grade 6, has been operating with only two volunteer teachers for the past several years, one of whom is Michael K. Doe, a retired educator who stepped in to keep the school running in the absence of paid staff.
“I’m still serving as principal because of the Liberian people and our community,” said Mr. Doe, who officially retired in 2019 but continued to work due to the vacuum created by the lack of teachers. “There’s no teacher. So we decided to be here until the government can bring teachers in.”
According to Doe, the school was sustained not by government funding but by the goodwill and charity of the local community. However, even this support could not make up for the growing challenges of operating without salaries, trained staff, or basic educational materials. As a result, attendance decreased, and most students eventually dropped.
“Because of the lack of manpower to teach, the students also stopped coming,” he explained. “Many of them have gone to the goldfields. So we had no choice but to close the school down.”
The closure of Dartuken Public School has rippled across the community, exposing deep cracks in Liberia’s rural education system. With the school shuttered, many children have been left with no alternative but to venture into the nearby gold mining fields—exchanging classrooms for hard labor in a bid to support themselves or their families.
The situation has stirred growing frustration among residents of Dartuken Town, who are now appealing for urgent action from the Ministry of Education and their elected representative, Alexander Poure. The lack of intervention so far has only deepened concerns that the state is turning a blind eye to the plight of remote communities.
What’s unfolding in Dartuken is not an isolated case. Across River Gee County, several government schools remain closed or severely understaffed, the result of years of neglect, unpaid teacher salaries, and deteriorating infrastructure. The few that still function often do so under extreme conditions, relying on community charity or retired educators working without compensation.
This crisis reflects a broader systemic failure. In these rural districts, education is no longer a guarantee but a privilege for the few who can afford to travel or relocate. Without immediate government intervention—both in the deployment of trained teachers and the rehabilitation of abandoned schools—an entire generation may be lost to poverty and exploitation.
The Ministry of Education has yet to release any formal statement regarding the school’s closure or plans to address the broader crisis in River Gee County. Meanwhile, families in Tienpo District continue to wait—hoping that their children’s right to education has not been permanently buried beneath the dust of forgotten classrooms.
For More News And Analysis About Liberia Follow Africa-Press
