Schools have reopened across Sierra Leone nine months after they were closed because of the Ebola outbreak.

The government of Sierra Leone has taken a major step to re-open school after it was shut down 9 months ago due to Ebola. The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) says that the reopening of Sierra Leone's schools marks "a major step in the normalisation of life".

The BBC's Umaru Fofana reports from the capital Freetown that the pupils are "really excited" to be going back despite concerns about Ebola.


To allay fears and ensure that there are no new Ebola cases, the first day at school will be spent on Ebola education and going through basic hygiene rules.

Unicef has trained 9,000 teachers in Ebola prevention and is also supplying hand washing facilities to every school.

 

But some schools in the east of the country contacted by our correspondent said that they had not yet received new teaching materials or even the health and safety gear that was promised.

At the start of the school day pupils will be required to wash their hands with soap and clean water and have their body temperature checked before entering the classroom, our reporter says

New cases of Ebola continue to be reported in Sierra Leone but numbers are declining.