© 2026 Human Rights WatchLiberia’s government announced on August 5 the elimination of all school registration fees from kindergarten through grade 6, beginning with the new school year on September 7. A recent Human Rights Watch report, “Without Education, There Will Be Nothing,” documents that school registration fees have often placed schooling out of reach or imposed severe hardship, particularly for low-income and rural families. Human Rights Watch found that fees forced many children out of school altogether. Parents told Human Rights Watch that they went into debt, skipped meals, and made extraordinary sacrifices to pay fees at public schools. Beatrice, a 17-year-old from Nimba County, said she was forced to leave school when her parents could not afford her registration fees.