By Evelyn T. Kpadeh
MONROVIA
Liberian authorities have decided to postpone by two weeks the reopening of the nation's schools, which had been scheduled for Feb. 2, to allow time for the distribution of anti-Ebola safety kits.
"Schools across the country will be opened on Feb. 16; I know there are lots of misunderstandings in the public about the reopening date," Deputy Minister for Instruction Hawa Gol Kotche told The Anadolu Agency on Monday.
Liberian students were supposed to begin school today following several months of delays due to the Ebola outbreak, which has already claimed thousands of lives in the West African country.
Kotche said the decision was meant to give the government and school authorities enough time to implement anti-Ebola protocols, which lay down the minimum requirements that must be put in place to ensure schools are safe.
She said the authorities had not yet completed all 23 protocols, including the distribution of safety kits – which began on Thursday – to 5,181 schools across the country.
Kits include chlorine, buckets, thermometers, soap, safety boots, gloves and other sanitation materials for cleaning school bathrooms.
"We have started distributing safety kits in counties considered to be at the epicenter of the virus, with Montserrado County, the capitol, as our starting point," Kotche told AA. "Montserrado is still reporting a few cases of Ebola."
"The next county we will visit will be Grand Cape Mount… subsequently to the remaining counties. But the facts remain: we couldn't cover all these areas before today to open schools," the official admitted.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced earlier this month that schools would reopen on Feb. 2 after months of delay following the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, which in recent months has killed 3,605 people in Liberia alone.
According to Liberia's academic calendar, schools – including universities and vocational schools – should open in September and close in June.
Had it not been for Ebola, schools would have opened as usual last September, and, by now, the country would be four months into the academic year.
In recent months, Ebola – a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure – has killed 8,641 people, mostly in West Africa, according to a Jan. 21 World Health Organization (WHO) status report.
Registration
Other protocols require every school to clearly set up entrance points for students, personnel and visitors, where people's temperatures can be taken.
Each school must also have at least two healthcare workers to handle students that fall ill on campus.
The government has, meanwhile, extended the students' enrollment process to Feb. 13 to give parents sufficient time to register their children.
"There are so many complaints from the public, so we have extended registration to Feb. 13," Kotche told AA. "Even if we were to extend registration to the next two months, people will still complain."
The government had originally announced that school registration would begin on Jan. 19 and run for only five days. But the process has been marked by poor turnout as many cash-strapped Liberian parents struggle to raise school fees.
"Changing the date from Feb. 2 to 16 makes no difference to me because most parents cannot raise their children's school fees in two weeks," Dean S. Twede, a 26-year-old student at the University of Liberia, told AA.
"If the government really wants to say it is listening to the cries of its people, it would have agreed with the legislature to open schools on March 2," she said.
The House of Senate had recommended postponing the reopening of schools to March 2, but the government appears to have ignored the suggestion.
"If the government had insisted on opening schools today, my children would not have been able to go," Patience Dennis, 31, told AA. "I have not done the registration yet."
The Education Ministry has exempted students from kindergarten to ninth grade from paying school fees, while students from the tenth to the 12th grades must only pay registration fees of 700 Liberian dollars (roughly $8) in three installments.
But with a limited number of schools and a trimmed class capacity, many Liberians will have to enroll their children at private schools, where admission fees have not been affected by the government initiative.
