WHEN Precious was just 12, she sold her body for the first time — to a man nearly four times her age. Now 18, the Liberian schoolgirl sleeps with five to six men on an average day to pay her school fees of 1,500 Liberian dollars (£16) a year and to buy food.

Precious receives the equivalent of between 27p and 54p from each client. Hers is just another grim story from a failed state that, after decades of civil war, is teetering on the brink of social catastrophe.

Save the Children estimates that between 60% and 80% of secondary schoolgirls in Monrovia, the capital, are forced into prostitution to pay for their education and food. The British charity, due to release its findings tomorrow, says that Liberian men openly prey on younger girls, whom they regard as a smaller health risk than older women.

After paying for her uniform and school books, there are some days when Precious has enough money to buy just one meal of rice. On other days she has no money at all. In a country with 85% unemployment she is working in an overcrowded market.

The war in Liberia was particularly awful: drugged child soldiers rampaged through the streets of the capital; they would eat the hearts of those they killed to give them extra strength. A quarter of a million died.

It is two years since a peace deal was signed and the rebels were disarmed. Charles Taylor, the former president who was responsible for much of the chaos, is in exile in Nigeria, indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

Liberia is patrolled by 15,000 United Nations peacekeepers and ruled by a transitional government that is due to hold elections in October.

Liberians desperate to escape their poverty see an education system that they can afford as their route to salvation: as 22 presidential hopefuls kick off their election campaigns, promises of free schooling draw the biggest roars from the crowds.

“I want to send more teachers and students abroad to strengthen our educational system,” said George Weah, the former Manchester City footballer who is now a strong contender for president.

Encouraged by Weah and a new generation of more responsible politicians, the international community has promised more than £286m to help to rebuild Liberia — more than five times the annual budget.

Until there is a genuine change in government, agencies such as Save the Children are the safest conduit for aid money. The charity does its best to provide textbooks for Precious and her friends.

“Many of these children have lost the true meaning of what society is. The thing that binds a family together has been broken by war,” said Helen Harris, a social worker at a Save the Children centre. “If a father goes out to work every day and comes home with nothing, will his children respect him? They have to make their own way.”

Mary, 18, is typical: since her older brother was killed during the war, selling sex has become routine. The roof of her house leaks and she is often cold. She does her best to protect herself, refusing clients without condoms. It means that she gets paid half the going rate. “They ask but I say no. If I get pregnant, how will I go back to school?” she said.

For a moment she calmed her nervous hands. “If you learn, you can go anywhere,” she said quietly. “But if you don’t know books, then you can’t go nowhere.”

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