 |
| My high school St Teresa's Girls College, Ibadan, Nigeria |
HOW EBOLA HAS AFFECTED EDUCATION IN WEST AFRICA
By Dr Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo #HNNHealth
As a big advocate of Education hailing from an intellectual family, my father Victor Omololu Olunloyo was the Commissioner for Education in the Western state of Nigeria twice in the 70's and today my sister is the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education in Oyo state. We also have the iconic Molete, Ibadan school Yejide girls grammar school named after the first girl to go to school in Ibadan, Nigeria. The first pupils to attend an elementary school in Ibadan were Yejide Olunloyo (female) and Akinyele Olunloyo (male) – the two children of an Ibadan high chief, so we are known Nigerian education advocates.
With that been said, that we are experiencing today is worse than a teacher's strike which normally paralyzes schools for a while. Nigerian schools were set to resume after the summer break on September 15th, 2014 were delayed to October 8th. Some kids even asked me on the first day back this week if there will be classes on Christmas day and New Years.
Many teachers in some Nigerian states are frowning at the Ebola outbreak situation demanding the government have every student tested and returned to school with an Ebola test certificate. Others are simply not willing to resume after the Lagos and Rivers outbreak that is now contained. Nigeria's problem is not as bad as the problem we have in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea where there is no school at all.
In fact another tragedy of some sorts have developed as these countries are reporting high rates of what I call "Ebola Orphans" meaning children that have lost their parents to the disease and now orphaned, hungry, some homeless and no relatives will take them.
How do we deal with this aspect of the outbreak? The West African Examination Council (WAEC) was in the negative publicity spotlight all year due to the bad scores in many Nigerian schools and the absence of a valid list of names of the allegedly missing Chibok girls who were taking the exams at the time. Now WAEC may have no exams in 2015, period!
I am only writing this article from an elementary to High school perspective and not even a university level one. Even Ebola can stop university education in it's tracks if a student were tested positive. It could cause an entire dormitory and hostel to be quarantined. People are looking at how boarding schools are being run in Nigeria these days because of this disease and it's potential to ravage lives so quickly.
With the diagnosis of a first Ebola patient in the USA, Thomas Eric Duncan who has since passed away, had kid relatives in that house and at the party who have all now been put into isolation and won't be returning to school any time soon. American schools resumed after Labour day September 3rd, but for a suspected Ebola contact who is a student in school, it could be frustrating having to miss so much from classes in the middle of the fall school term with no tutors due to the health hazards involved.
My solution is not to rush school education but educate students, parents and their communities on how to prevent spread of the outbreak rather than trying to make classes. Always teach students proper hand washing, use of sanitizers and general good hygiene avoiding contact with each other's body fluids. Also limit your children's media coverage exposure of Ebola as it is too saturated heavily on media and social media. Explain to them what is relevant and keep them always out of panic mode.
One student fled Guinea to Senegal after his family all died and the Senegalese authorities did an excellent job tracing him and his few contacts right away. Senegal was spared of a potential disaster from that index patient. Happy School Year 2014/2015!
Listen to my audio
Dr Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo is a US trained Pharmacist, Journalist and PR Specialist of 26 years based in Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa. She is the News Director of #HNNAfrica, a world news portal for Nigerians and runs #HNNHealth under the twitter handle @HealthReports. U can contact her @HNNAfrica on twitter.
