The administration and community of Edward Beyan Public School are sounding an urgent alarm, calling on the Government of Liberia and humanitarian organizations to intervene as the institution faces severe infrastructural decay and an acute shortage of essential learning materials.
Established in 1977 in honor of the late Dr. Edward Beyan Kesselee, the school once stood as a pillar of hope for Nyamakanu Town and surrounding villages. But decades of civil conflict left the building in ruins. When residents returned in 2006, desperate to give their children a chance at education, parents and community volunteers rebuilt the school with their bare hands without state support.
Nearly twenty years later, the school still stands largely on community effort, lacking the basic resources required for quality learning.
Principal Mr. Lasannah Duannah, who spoke with The Closing Argument, disclosed that from 2006 until last academic year, he and several community teachers worked entirely on a voluntary basis because government support was nonexistent. Only last year was he officially placed on payroll.
Today, the school has recorded an enrollment of 126 students for the 2025–2026 academic year. Yet, students are forced to sit on broken benches, share limited textbooks, and struggle through lessons in classrooms with leaking roofs and crumbling walls.
“We rebuilt this school with community strength, but the conditions are now beyond what we can manage. We need help. Our children deserve better classrooms, chairs, textbooks basic things every school should have.”
One of the longest-serving volunteer teachers, Mr. Adam V. Tarlewelly, has been teaching at Edward Beyan Public School since 2006. He said his dedication comes from a deep belief in the future of the children, despite the lack of compensation or logistical support.
“We started this because our children needed a future. No one knows which of them will become a leader tomorrow. But we cannot keep teaching under these conditions. The government needs to come to our aid.”
Both men say the situation is now urgent. They fear that without intervention, the school may collapse literally and academically leaving more than a hundred children at risk of losing access to education.
Community leaders have also expressed frustration that after nearly two decades of post-war reconstruction efforts nationwide, Edward Beyan Public School still lacks the most basic government attention.
The administration is appealing to:
The Government of Liberia, particularly the Ministry of Education
Humanitarian and nonprofit organizations
Diaspora philanthropists
Corporate and goodwill institutions
To step in and rescue the school before the situation worsens.
As students continue to learn in unsafe conditions, residents of Nyamakanu Town say their greatest fear is that the dreams of their children will be buried under the same broken walls that have been ignored for years.
The community insists: the time for government action is now.
