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Claim: A panellist on the Spoon Talk Online programme said Liberia’s Education Law requires the government to allocate 25% of the national budget to education.
Verdict: DUBAWA reviewed the Education Reform Act of 2011 and found no provision requiring 25% of the national budget to go to education.
Full Text
A panellist on a nighttime program, Spoon Talk, Gibson Jerue, claimed that Liberia’s Education Law mandates a 25% allocation to the education sector.
“The Education Law of Liberia says the education budget of the country should be 25% of the national budget,” he said.
He made the claim at exactly 1:43:35 during the program. The program generated 1.4k likes, 1.8k comments and 188 shares.
Gibson Jerue is a regular panellist on the nighttime program, Spoon Talk, and a strong supporter of former Liberian President George Weah. He made the claim while criticising the status of the country’s education system and the government’s annual budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Education.
DUBAWA decided to verify the claim as part of our mandate to promote truth and accuracy in political discourse across the region.
Verification
Our researcher first contacted the claimant, requesting the chapter and provision of the education law that supports his claim. Despite reaching out and waiting for days, the claimant has not responded to the inquiries.
The researcher reviewed the Education Reform Act of 2011, particularly Chapter Nine, which discusses financing education, and found no such provision.
Subsection (a) of Chapter Nine, however, mandates that in addition to the recurrent Government budgetary appropriation for education, “all concession agreements for investment in the extractive mineral and other non-renewable resource sector, as well as in the agriculture sector and in major privatisation contracts, shall require that sixty per cent (60%) of any signature fees realised to be allocated to the education budget; and the terms and conditions of all such agreements and contracts shall include a negotiated fixed annual amount as social responsibility fee for education which, when paid, shall be made available as transfer and/or subsidy to the annual cost of education in Liberia.”
Screenshot of chapter nine of the law
The Education Reform Act of 2011 was enacted to modernise and restructure the country’s education system, replacing earlier provisions under Title 26 of the Executive Law. It aimed to expand access to quality education, improve governance structure, and align Liberia’s education policies with international standards.
As noted in the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report on Financing Education, the 2026 SDG 4 Scorecard found that around one in three countries spends less than 4% of GDP and less than 15% of total public expenditure on education, compared with the standard set by the Education 2030 Framework for Action. Data from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics show that, between 2008 and 2012, the Liberian government invested 12 to 14% of total public expenditure on education, which is less than the standard.
Screenshot of page addressing government spending on education.
According to the 2026 approved national budget published by the Ministry of Finance, the government of Liberia allocated $136,326,349, which is 10.91% of the country’s historical $1.2 billion budget, to the education sector.
Screenshot of budget.
DUBAWA further reviewed the Education Law of 2001 (repealed) and the Liberia Education Administrative Regulation, but the documents made no mention of a 25% allocation to education.
Conclusion
DUBAWA found no provision in the Education Reform Act of 2011 requiring that 25% of Liberia’s national budget go to education. Jerue did not provide a legal citation for his claim. International benchmarks for education spending are lower than 25%, and Liberia’s actual allocation is $136,326,349, or 10.91% of the country’s 2026 National government expenditure.