Liberia reopens schools as Ebola spread ebbs

[Pathfinder]

Liberia plans to reopen schools in February as Ebola spread ebbs

MONROVIA Mon Jan 5, 2015 9:16am EST

(Reuters) - Liberia plans to reopen schools in February, six months after the government ordered them closed because of the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 3,400 people in the West African nation, an official said on Monday.

The rate of new Ebola cases has slowed in recent weeks in Liberia where the government and international organizations with support from the United States stepped up efforts to stop the spread of the disease.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced at the weekend that schools would reopen on Feb. 2 but did not specify whether the measure would apply to the entire education system.

George Wuo, a director at the Education Ministry, said authorities were assessing around 500 schools across the country for reopening.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/05/us-health-ebola-liberia-idUSKBN0KE12L20150105

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Trickle of Liberian Children Returning to School Reflects Lingering Ebola Fears

By NORIMITSU ONISHI
MARCH 4, 2015

MONROVIA, Liberia ? A couple of dozen students sat quietly inside the C.D.B. King Elementary School?s dim and dusty auditorium on their first morning back. Despite the stuffy heat, many of the children wore long sleeves and trousers that covered as much skin as possible.
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?Ebola destroyed and devastated our land,? Venoria Crayton, the vice principal, told her pupils. ?It brought us sadness, it brought us pain. Some of your neighbors died, right? Some of your neighbors? children died, right? But you are here.?

About eight months after governments in the region closed schools to stop the spread of Ebola, uniformed and backpack-carrying schoolchildren have returned to the streets of Monrovia, the capital, perhaps the most visible sign of the epidemic?s ebb.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/world/africa/trickle-of-liberian-children-returning-to-school-reflects-lingering-ebola-fears.html?_r=0