Where Ebola Has Closed Schools, A Radio Program Provides A Faint Signal Of Hope

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton        Dec. 25, 2014

MONROVIA -- Working with UNICEF and another nonprofit, Talking Drum, in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, the government aims to provide lessons to children across the country, hit by the Ebola outbreak. Most schools closed this past summer and will likely remain closed for months....

                            Florence Allen Jones, right, is part of the education ministry's classes-by-radio team.

The radio classes are broadcast on local stations, and on United Nations radio. The Education Ministry acknowledged that the broadcasts are not reaching nationwide. In any case, few children in Liberia's 15 counties have access to a radio, or even the batteries to power one. Wealthy parents have hired home tutors for their kids, but many other youngsters have taken to peddling petty goods, like trinkets or donuts, on the streets of Monrovia, to try to earn a little money for their families while schools are closed.

...Even before Ebola arrived in Liberia, the education system was "a mess." That's how President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf described it last year, saying a complete overhaul was needed. Primary school attendance is mandatory, but enforcement is lax and classes are overcrowded. Often teachers fail to show up. The UN says about 40 percent of Liberia's four and half million people are literate. That's among the lowest rates in the world.

The radio classes are meant to help take up the slack while schools remain closed. But the lesson we heard sounded more like a lecture — worthy, but frankly, dull and not child-friendly.

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http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/12/25/371166648/where-ebola-has-closed-schools-a-radio-program-provides-a-faint-signal-of-hope