Public Resources Must Reach Classrooms-Ngafuan

By Lewis S. Teh

MONROVIA, October 7, 2026 — Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan has called for stronger accountability in Liberia’s education sector, warning that public resources should benefit those directly involved in educating the country’s children.

Speaking Tuesday during Executive Budget Hearings involving the Ministry of Education, University of Liberia, Tubman University and other public universities, Ngafuan said government must track how resources are being used, particularly at the classroom level.

“We need to track what’s happening in the classrooms because if we pay those who aren’t in the classrooms, they are taking away money from those in the classrooms,” Ngafuan said.

He said the issue is not simply how much government allocates to education, but whether available resources are being effectively used to improve outcomes.

According to Ngafuan, the ongoing budget hearings are intended to assess how ministries and agencies have used current appropriations and identify their most important priorities for the next fiscal year.

He acknowledged that government resources remain limited despite improvements in domestic revenue collection, making prioritization and accountability critical.

“It’s not a matter of how much, it’s a matter of how well,” Ngafuan said, noting that institutions receiving similar levels of funding can produce different results depending on how resources are managed and programs implemented.

He urged education authorities and institutions to identify priority areas where limited public resources can have the greatest impact.

Ngafuan compared the challenge to a parent with five children but enough resources to send only three to school, telling education officials: “You know those children better than we do.”

The education-sector hearing forms part of a series of Executive Budget Hearings being conducted by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning ahead of the October 31 deadline for submission of the national budget.

Ngafuan stressed that education spending should ultimately produce measurable results where learning takes place, in Liberia’s classrooms.

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