When government officials in Ebola-hit Sierra Leone and Liberia ordered schools to close over the summer to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, they probably didn’t expect the shutdown would last so long.
Ebola is transmitted through bodily contact, making children crowded onto classroom benches a high-risk situation. Months later, children of all ages are still confined to their homes and missing out on vital education.
As infection rates continued to rise — more than 9,191 across the most-affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to World Health Organization statistics available in mid-October — education ministries and nongovernmental organizations considered other ways to deliver education in an such a challenging environment.
About the author
Gabriella Jóźwiak@GabriellaJ
Gabriella Jóźwiak is an award-winning journalist based in London. Her work on issues and policies affecting children and young people in developing countries and the U.K. has been published in national newspapers and magazines. Having worked in-house for domestic and international development charities, Jóźwiak has a keen interest in organizational development, and has worked as a journalist in several countries across West Africa and South America.