Tougaloo, Mississippi – Former Liberian Ambassador to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Jeremiah C. Sulunteh, on Friday delivered a passionate and urgent appeal for global collaboration to improve educational access and equity for underserved communities in both Liberia and the United States.
By Selma Lomax | [email protected]
His remarks were delivered at the 2025 Convening of the National Institutes for Historically Underserved Students (NIHUS) hosted at Tougaloo College.
Speaking under the theme “Unlocking Academic Opportunities for Underserved Students in Liberia,” Sulunteh emphasized that education must be viewed as the cornerstone of national and global development. He argued that students in marginalized communities are not failing — systems are failing them.
Drawing a historical link between Liberia and African Americans, Sulunteh referenced the early 19th-century migration of freed slaves from the United States to Liberia and highlighted that ten of Liberia’s first presidents were African Americans or their descendants. This, he said, strengthens the cultural and moral responsibility to forge ties between Liberian institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the U.S.
He described Liberia’s education crisis in detail. “Only 54 percent of students reach grade six, while dropout rates in rural areas climb as high as 15.6 percent. Girls face even steeper challenges, with only 40 percent staying in school past the age of 15, often due to poverty and early marriage. Many classrooms in Liberia are overcrowded, with as many as 100 students squeezed into spaces designed for 30. One in three teachers lacks formal training, and 60 percent of schools have no access to clean drinking water,” he said.
Sulunteh stressed that the U.S. is not immune. He pointed out that schools serving predominantly minority populations receive significantly less funding compared to majority-white schools.
He added that Black students are three times more likely to face suspensions, and that during the COVID-19 pandemic, one in four Black and Hispanic households lacked access to the internet for remote learning.
He declared that, whether in rural Liberia or inner-city America, students display extraordinary resilience. “The issue is not students,” Sulunteh said. “It’s systems that continue to fail them.”
The consequences, he warned, are generational. Liberia’s adult literacy rate is just 48 percent. In some rural areas, only one in four third graders can read a basic sentence. Schools often operate without desks, chairs, or textbooks, and 60 percent of rural teachers lack any formal qualification. In the U.S., under-resourced schools also struggle to recruit and retain qualified teachers and offer limited access to college-level courses.
To combat this, Sulunteh laid out a series of recommendations. He called for increased investment in teacher training and retention, proposing a raise in Liberian teacher salaries to at least $200 a month and increased incentives for rural postings. In the United States, he urged diversification of the teaching workforce, support through scholarships and loan forgiveness, and stronger mentoring programs.
He encouraged building cross-continental partnerships to transfer knowledge and resources, proposing a direct collaboration between Tougaloo College and the University of Liberia’s Center for Diaspora and Migration Studies. Such initiatives, he said, could bridge the divide between Africa and its diaspora and create mutual benefits for students on both sides.
Addressing the technology gap, Sulunteh noted that only 8 percent of Liberians have internet access, and just 7 percent of rural schools are connected to electricity. “Over half of Liberia’s university instructors are unable to use a computer. In the United States, the digital divide remains stark, especially for Black and Hispanic households,” he said.
Sulunteh illustrated these challenges with stories of hope. He spoke of Mary, a Liberian girl from Grand Gedeh County who walked two hours to school and eventually earned a teaching degree that allowed her to return and serve her community. He also shared Jamal’s story — an American student from Chicago who overcame systemic odds through mentorship and went on to study engineering while mentoring others.
Closing his speech with a personal testimony, Sulunteh recounted his early life in a Liberian village with no electricity, roads, or school. He didn’t start school until age 10 and had to walk three miles each way to attend. In 2007, he helped build a seven-classroom school in his village, but enrollment has recently dropped from 317 to 76 students due to the government’s inability to fund teacher salaries. “When we deny children classrooms,” he said, “we arm them instead with despair, and that failure stains us all.”
He invoked the words of Nelson Mandela—“Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world”—and challenged the audience to act decisively. He urged governments to prioritize education funding, schools to modernize and innovate, and communities to support every child as their own.
Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he concluded: “The arc of the moral universe bends toward justice—but only if we lend our hands to shape it.”
Ambassador Sulunteh’s message received a standing ovation, as attendees were left inspired to turn their shared concern into coordinated action — bridging continents, communities, and classrooms in pursuit of educational justice.
