--- title: Saving Education During Ebola description: Children from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are still out of school. Here's what's being done canonical: https://time.com/3637570/5-million-kids-arent-in-school-because-of-ebola/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-17T17:23:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:10.866Z article:section: Health og:title: 5 Million Kids Aren't In School Because of Ebola og:description: The virus's other toll og:url: https://time.com/3637570/5-million-kids-arent-in-school-because-of-ebola/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7bc88512c48c312/69876f6ce53aba3afe4d69b2/school-ebola-closed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3680 og:image:height: 2070 og:image:alt: Schools closed in Sierra Leone after Ebola outbreak og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Million Kids Aren't In School Because of Ebola twitter:description: The virus's other toll twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7bc88512c48c312/69876f6ce53aba3afe4d69b2/school-ebola-closed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Million Kids Aren't in School Because of Ebola > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola [Watch (HLS stream): Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G194AmTC.m3u8) (2:32)  _Published 2014-08-13. Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 17, 2014 5:23 PM UTC  A classroom of a school stands abandoned on Aug. 25, 2014 in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Schools closed and villages quarantined after dozens of its congregation died with Ebola symptoms. A classroom of a school stands abandoned on Aug. 25, 2014 in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Schools closed and villages quarantined after dozens of its congregation died with Ebola symptoms.Mohammed Elshamy—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 17, 2014 5:23 PM UTC Public schools in Guinea have been closed since March. Schools in Sierra Leone and Liberia never opened after the summer holiday. All told, the children’s rights and emergency relief group [UNICEF](http://www.unicef.org/) estimates that 5 million children ages 3 to 17 are out of school due to Ebola. “This Ebola crisis has been predominantly seen as a health crisis but its implications go way beyond health,” says Sayo Aoki, an education specialist for UNICEF working in the affected countries. “It’s time we start looking at it from other perspectives, and education is part of that.” Some schools were closed out of fear the disease could spread in large gatherings while others had no access to water, making handwashing impossible. But the longer a child stays out of school, the [less likely it is he or she will return](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/gcb%5Fstopebola%5F11%5F11.pdf)—which is why UNICEF is working closely with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health to come up with protocols necessary to implement in order to let children back into the classrooms. The draft—which calls for measures like Ebola screenings, hygiene requirements and a plan in the event a suspected case—is currently being reviewed by experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. and the World Health Organization. **MORE:**[ TIME’s Person of the Year: Ebola Fighters](time.com/poy) In the meantime, UNICEF and partner NGOs have trained out-of-work teachers to act as “social mobilizers,” going door to door to spread messages about how to identify Ebola and prevent its spread. UNICEF and partners are also using the radio programs to offer long-distance learning while kids are kept at home. “We are trying to make \[the radio shows\] simple and more interesting so children will get some learning,” says Aoki. “If they listen to it at a certain time of the day during the week, it gives them a routine they’ve lost from not going to school. It brings them a sense of normalcy, some sort of stability and hope.” Stability has been largely destroyed for many children living in Ebola-affected countries. Many have seen family members, friends and neighbors get infected, and many have [become orphans](http://time.com/3453660/ebola-orphans/) as well. Ebola has also changed social mores. “Nobody shakes hands in public,” says Aoki. “It has put a lot of stress on children. There’s no cuddling, no hugging, no kissing. The simple joys of life have been taken away.” Even before Ebola, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia were economically troubled countries still emerging from conflict and civil war. Guinea and Liberia were in the process of increasing their school attendance numbers—Guinea was at 58% and Liberia was at 34%—and experts worry that Ebola has set progress back. School closures, including private schools, are also a bad economic indicator. Jeff Trudeau, the director of The [American International School of Monrovia](http://www.aismonrovia.com/) (AISM) [told TIME in August](http://time.com/3161227/ebolas-untold-tragedy-foreign-families-are-fleeing/) that he lost more than half his expected students for the 2014 school year, many of whom were children of foreign families who moved to the region for jobs in Liberia’s burgeoning business sector. That school’s earliest possible start date is January and for others, there appear to be “moving” deadlines for reopening. Guinea is aiming for January while Liberia and Sierra Leone are hoping for March. But all the countries will have to patiently wait until their caseloads are under control, since a premature opening may only add fuel to the fire. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3637570/5-million-kids-arent-in-school-because-of-ebola/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3637570/5-million-kids-arent-in-school-because-of-ebola/"},"headline":"5 Million Kids Aren't in School Because of Ebola","datePublished":"2014-12-17T17:23:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:10.866Z","description":"Children from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are still out of school. 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