Local

Undeniably, the recruitment process for the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) has come to be a very revealing demonstration of problems existing within the education sector in Liberia. Though the military has always followed its merit-based criteria, high levels of illiteracy and poor performance in academic tests among applicants show the larger picture of what goes on.

In particular, back in August 2013, when President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf talked about "the mess of the Liberia education system" while referring to total failure of 25,000 students who took the University of Liberia entrance exam, she truly revealed the whole truth about how badly the sector was doing at that time.

Now, In 2026 the picture does not change much. Many still lack common reading skills and the early morning broadcast of the Armed Forces of Liberia recruitment process clearly shows it. The military isn’t a place of only carrying arms, it’s a professional setting of different disciplines and not knowing how to read a single sentence shortens the chance of being there.