Former combatants expelled from school after failure to pay fees

Over 500 former combatants were expelled from private secondary schools in the Liberian capital Monrovia this week after the country's disarmament commission failed to pay their fees. John Dennis, an official of the National Commission on Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation and Integration, said many more were likely to suffer the same fate shortly because the commission, which was due to pay for their education, had run out of cash. "We expect that about 4,000 ex-combatants would be thrown out of classes for this academic year since we can not afford their school bills due to the trust fund being dried up," he told IRIN. Dennis said that since October, 11,000 former combatants had been placed by the Commission in schools in Monrovia, but there had only been enough money to pay the school fees, which average about US$100 a year, for 7,000 of them. Dennis said no further donor funding was expected until March. "This is a major concern for the Commission right now," he said. "What is most worrisome is that we have not been able to provide educational sponsorship for some 45,000 former fighters who are desperately wanting to be at school." The expulsions began on Tuesday, causing much resentment amongst the former gunmen who had been promised education and training by the United Nations to help them return to civilian life. "I decided to go to school and learn something and forget about warfare," said Johnny Dixon, a former soldier in the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement, who is now in his early 20s. "It is sad for us not to be in school while some of our friends are learning and progressing with their lessons," he told IRIN. The expulsions mainly affect young men aged between 18 and 30 whose education was disrupted by Liberia's 14-year civil war, not child soldiers, most of whom have been sent to primary schools. The principal of one privately-owned secondary school, who asked not to be identified, said the Disarmament Commission had been promising to pay the fees for months, but had failed to do so, so the school authorities had finally decided to take drastic action. "Often we have been called to meetings at the Commission offices, but we could get no favourable response on payment," he said. "Students' fees need to be paid for us to receive our monthly salaries. Monrovia is an expensive city to live in and education is not a free venture." Last month, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a report to the Security Council that Liberia urgently needed $60 million to cover shortfalls in the programme to rehabilitate more than 100,000 former combatants who registered for disarmament. The expulsions do not affect former combatants placed in state schools. However, private and church-run high schools provide most of the secondary education that is available in Liberia.