The ebola emergency in
Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia has led these countries to temporarily close
schools in order to manage the spread of the disease. It has been estimated
that the closure of schools affects estimably five million children in the region,
and fears that some of these children might not return to school after the
emergency have caused some NGOs to call for the reopening of schools in the
region. As founder of the Jeneba Project Inc. and someone who has provided
education in the region for years, it is perhaps one of the few times in my
life that I would have to urge the governments of these countries to keep
schools closed until the disease is significantly contained. As it stands now,
opening schools will be irresponsible and a grave mistake.
In the Forward to a
recent report by the Global Business Coalition for Education in collaboration
with A World At School, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown states that with
children out of school indefinitely, ebola is threatening to reverse years of
educational progress in West Africa. But even as we discuss the matter, ebola
continues to kill people, and we cannot bargain with children’s lives in
places without adequate resources just to keep them in school. It is true
that maybe some of the children might not return to school after the emergency,
but that too, is part of the crisis that now confronts the Mano River region,
and they would have to find ingenious means of dealing with future consequences
of the disease.
As of December 3, 2014,
the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 17, 145 cases of Ebola and 6070
deaths. In General, the WHO reported "case incidence slightly increasing in
Guinea, declining in Liberia, and may still be increasing in Sierra Leone." Even
though significant progress has been achieved since the outbreak of the disease
and the worst projections have been averted, WHO reports that capacity remains
insufficient to stop transmission in some areas. It will take only a few new infections
among school kids to reverse progress already made to square one. Education is
important, but major priority should be devoted towards containing a disease
that continues to destroy lives. The Global Business Coalition offers some
pragmatic recommendations, which in any other region could be implemented, but
one of the reasons the Mano River region is being devastated by ebola is lack
of infrastructure. In plain language, these countries have been poor and underdeveloped!
I am disheartened by the
current ebola situation in these countries after years of struggle to recover
from the aftermaths of more than a decade of brutal civil wars, and it is a nightmare
to watch children who should be in school idling around, but in order to train
their minds, first we must preserve their lives.
KATEHUN (pronounced Ka-te-hun)-is a Mende word for a symposium or community center where disputes are settled. Everyone is permitted to make his/her case before a presiding chief in an open forum.
On this forum, I write primarily for those who stand committed to the Rule of Law in Africa and to the value that our future is better determined by the government of the people, by the people, and in service for the people. To advance the African value of Ubuntu through International Law and the Principles of a United Nations, which propels us towards Life in Larger Freedom.
