Emmanuel, in his fifties, who runs an Ebola checkpoint a few kilometers from Mungwalu, the epicenter of Ebola. Photo by Akilimali Chomachoma
Emmanuel, in his fifties, who runs an Ebola checkpoint a few kilometers from Mungwalu, the epicenter of Ebola. Photo by Akilimali Chomachoma

Education: A school year reopening that risks exacerbating the Ebola epidemic in affected areas

Confusion reigns 48 hours before the start of the 2026–2027 school year in provinces affected by the Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The government, NGOs, and other stakeholders within education and primary and secondary schooling continue to contradict one another regarding the strategy to adopt concerning the protection of children during this epidemic period.

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With the Ebola virus disease officially declared on May 15, at a time when children were in the middle of completing exams for the previous school year, the start of this school year will be an additional test in the fight against the Ebola virus disease—a struggle that has already become further complicated and whose response efforts lack consensus.

While NGOs such as Africa CDC maintain that sanitizers and other tools should be provided to children so they can study properly, other organizations, on the other hand, support the idea of splitting classes—especially after the declaration of free primary education, which brought many problems to light and placed a high number of students in a single classroom. Those organizations argue that overcrowded classrooms must be divided into multiple classes.

A few days earlier, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, alongside the Minister of Health, jointly hosted a press conference in Kinshasa where they explained that learning would take place remotely in the most severely affected regions. So far, no module, technical expertise, or material has been made available to make this operation possible and feasible.

The connectivity in this region could intermittently block online education, as proposed. Moreover, access to an internet connection is extremely expensive for families already devastated by the Ebola virus disease and preceding conflicts in the region.

Even access to radio is all the more difficult given that, for certain regions, people must get information through word-of-mouth channels, or communication is conducted via letters or travel to locations with a proper connection. Telephone network coverage is virtually nonexistent and unavailable in the area.

When contacted, an official from a primary school in the city of Bunia indicated that they have not yet received any guidance whatsoever regarding the opening of this school year. Nor have they received any materials capable of helping to adhere to barrier measures or other actions that could curb the spread of the Ebola virus disease.

Wait and see Written by Akilimali Saleh Chomachoma