Active Case Finders Extend Ebola Awareness to Islamic Schools

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Montserrado Community-Based Initiative (MCBI) project, has extended its Ebola out- reach to Islamic schools in one of the hotspot communities in Montserrado County ahead of the reopening of schools here.

Active Case Finders national volunteers visited the Alhaji Ayouba Sheriff English and Quranic Institute in Doe Community on the Bushrod Island, reminding teachers of their responsibility to observe Ebola safety protocols.

Under the auspices of the Madala Incorporated, a group composed of Muslim scholars and Imams, the outreach to the Islamic school is in continuation of Ebola preventive sensitization in hot spot communities in Montserrado and Grand Cape Mount Counties.

At a one-day teachers’ refresher and Ebola awareness workshop held at the school facility in Bassa Town, Freeport Community on the Bushrod Island, United Nations Volunteer Field Associate on the MCBI project, Varlee Sarnor told the teachers to ensure that all Ebola safety protocols are put in place and meticulously observed by the School administration and the students, as stipulated by the Ministries of Education and Health as well as partners.

“Ebola is not a friendly disease; it is a strange sickness and a very strange phenomenon that Liberians know nothing about” Mr. Sarnor said.

Schools across the Country have been shut down since last July, as a result of the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

Academic Institutions should have re-opened last September to commence a new school year. However, the Government of Liberia announced the closure of schools and imposed a state of emergency and a curfew to help prevent Ebola transmissions.

Mr. Sarnor reminded Muslims that complacency is not an option as the Liberian government makes the efforts to register zero cases.

“Our work at the Ebola Commend Center is to ensure that the message is spread to all Muslim across Liberia…We want you to beware that Ebola has not left Liberia, know that just a single person can affect thousand others…” Sarnor said.

The one day teachers’ refresher and Ebola awareness workshop, according to the School’s Principal, Harouna Kabbak, was part of several guidelines set by the Ministries of Education and Health to be followed by all schools operating in the country.

Mr. Kabbah said the training was intended to enlighten the teachers on how to prevent themselves and keep the students safe.

The Ministries of Education and Health in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States’ Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other partners has developed strict Ebola safety protocols to be followed by all schools and institutions of learning in Liberia when they officially re-open on 16, February.