Every Student Fails Liberian College Admission Exam

Not 1 of the 25K who took University of Liberia exam passed
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 26, 2013 7:15 PM CDT
Every Single Student Fails Liberian College Admission Exam
Members of the women in peacebuilding network, started by Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee, sing alongside a Liberian flag .   (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

There will be no new students at the University of Liberia next year. That's because every single student who took the admission test—all 25,000 of them—failed the exam, the BBC reports. University spokesman Momodu Getaweh says the students were unenthusiastic and did not show an adequate grasp of the English language. "In English, the mechanics of the language, they didn't know anything about it. So the government has to do something," he says. The country's president acknowledged its education system is "in a mess" and needs improvement. But some are questioning the results.

"I know there are a lot of weaknesses in the schools but for a whole group of people to take exams and every single one of them to fail, I have my doubts about that," says Liberia's education minister. "It's like mass murder." The BBC reports that the university—one of two state-funded unis in the country—is already overcrowded, but each student who paid $25 to take admission test has had their dream "shattered." Liberia is still recovering from its civil war, but Getaweh says the school can't make decisions based on "emotions." "The war has ended 10 years ago now," he says. "We have to put that behind us and become realistic." (More Liberia stories.)

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