A group of Liberian scholars under the World Bank-funded Improving Results in Secondary Education (IRISE) Project is calling on the University of Liberia (UL) to fulfill its longstanding commitment to transition them from adjunct to full-time faculty status—a promise made more than two years ago upon their return from graduate studies.
The appeal, now gaining traction among education stakeholders, comes in the form of multiple communications to the UL administration, including a formal letter dated June 19, 2025, and a series of direct messages to UL President Dr. Layli Maparyan.
In these letters, the scholars outline what they describe as “inexpressible hardship and economic difficulty” stemming from the prolonged delay in securing permanent employment, despite fulfilling their end of a binding agreement signed prior to their departure for studies.
The IRISE project, administered by Liberia’s Ministry of Education and backed by the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), was launched in 2018 to address the acute shortage of qualified educators in the country’s pre-service teacher training institutions.
The initiative selected 20 candidates from the William V.S. Tubman College of Education at UL and funded their graduate education at universities in Botswana, Kenya, and Ghana.
Under the terms of the Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) signed with both the Ministry of Education and the University of Liberia, the scholars were required to return and serve as full-time lecturers for a minimum period.
According to the group, that obligation was met when they returned in August 2023, yet full-time appointments have yet to materialize.
In a letter to UL’s Special Secretary George Wilson, the scholars wrote:
“We were told by the former President, Dr. Nelson, that we could not be employed immediately due to budget constraints. We accepted to serve as adjunct faculty while awaiting the 2024 national budget. That budget has since passed, and we are still awaiting permanent placement.”
The situation has escalated into personal appeals to current UL President Dr. Layli Maparyan.
In a message dated July 2025, Morris A. Sackor, one of the group’s representatives and an adjunct instructor in the College of Education, wrote:
“Life is becoming unbearable; as people with families, we are going through tough times, barely having anything to eat because adjunct faculty are paid only at the end of the semester.”
He continued: “We have been making efforts to secure a meeting time with you in order to explain our plights, but all efforts seem to yield no fruit. Therefore, my colleagues have asked me to write directly to you as a way of appealing for just a few minutes of your time.”
The group claims that 12 Personnel Action Notices (PANs), required for official employment-were prepared and signed earlier this year by the Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Cecelia M. Cassell, and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Agnes Reeves Taylor.
However, the PANs reportedly stalled at the desk of the Vice President for Finance, and as of August 2025, have not been forwarded to the UL President’s office for final approval.
In a follow-up message from Sackor to Dr. Maparyan, he acknowledged her busy schedule but reiterated the urgency of the matter. Quoting the President’s own reply, the scholars were informed:
“The names you sent were not among the PANs I currently have on hand to sign, so I am checking whether they are among the ones I recently signed or whether I need to initiate them newly. I’ll let you know whenever I hear anything.”
This bureaucratic bottleneck, the scholars argue, undermines Liberia’s broader education reform efforts.
Most of the IRISE scholars are specialists in key subject areas such as mathematics, science, and language arts-fields where Liberia suffers from a critical shortage of trained educators.
In addition to being underpaid as adjuncts, the group notes that several members were prevented from pursuing other professional opportunities due to their contractual obligations with UL and the Ministry of Education—further deepening their financial and professional constraints.
“We are qualified Liberians who could seek employment elsewhere, but we chose to remain committed to the agreement,” the scholars wrote in their letter.
The standoff underscores a larger issue within Liberia’s higher education system: the struggle to retain talent amid funding gaps and administrative delays.
Education experts warn that continued inaction could weaken not only the pipeline of qualified teachers but also Liberia’s reputation among donor partners.
As of press time, neither the University of Liberia nor the Ministry of Education has issued an official response to the IRISE scholars’ appeal.
