by Adedayo Ademuwagun

This Monday, primary schools and secondary schools will reopen in Lagos and most other states. This is in line with the federal government’s directive that schools should reopen on September 22.

Ebola broke out in Nigeria in July after a foreigner who had the virus came into the country and infected a number of people. As part of its response to forestall the spread, the federal government ordered that the resumption date for the new school year be postponed till October 13, and this was fully supported by the Nigerian people.

The government mounted a well-managed drive to squash the epidemic while the students enjoyed the holiday, and the drive turned out effectively. Within a month, Lagos was already rounding off its operations to contain the virus, and today the epidemic has been successfully contained. So the government reviewed the postponement decision and gave schools the go-ahead to resume on September 22.

Some sections of the public, especially the teachers’ union, opposed the reviewed date and wanted the government to revert to October. But the government has laid out its explanation, and now students in Lagos and most other states have been cleared to go back to the classroom.

Many students are happy with the government’s decision. Ezekiel says, “I’m really happy that we can get back to school! I’m tired of staying at home. I’ve missed my classmates, and I’m seriously looking forward to school on Monday. I’m very happy we can resume and not have to wait till October.”

Aishat says, “It’s nice that the government reviewed the date. If we resumed in October, our teachers would rush the classes. They wouldn’t take the time to teach the topics properly. If a topic should be taught for three weeks, they could teach it for a week in order to catch up. This would not be fine. So it’s good we’re going now and won’t be having hasty classes.”

Some students are still concerned about their safety though. For instance, Maruf says, “I want to resume, but I’m concerned about the disease. We don’t know if anyone in school would have it. I don’t want to get the disease.”

However, Nigeria has virtually won its fight against the disease and the epidemic is over in this country. But the others countries affected, including Liberia and Sierra Leone, are still having some trouble with the spread. Consequently, schools have been closed indefinitely in those countries and students have to sit at home with no date in sight.

About 5,000 people have been infected in West Africa since the epidemic began in Guinea nine months ago, and about half of those people have died.

Sierra Leone is having a three-day nationwide lock-down starting this weekend, and 30,000 health workers are going house-to-house all over the country to find and isolate cases. US President Barrack Obama has also announced that the US will send 3,000 military personnel shortly to beef up response teams on the ground in Liberia and the other affected countries.

This outbreak of the disease is the largest one ever.
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This story first appeared on Teen Y!

YEditor