Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, has announced a two-year program in Ebola-affected Liberia, that will provide assistance to 8,400 children by enabling them to return to school. The program titled ‘Liberia Learning Initiative’ is part of Dubai Cares’ Education in Emergencies strategy which supports the development and piloting of innovative approaches to reaching children affected by epidemics, conflict or natural disasters.

The Ebola epidemic outbreak resulted in a disruption in the education of around 900,000 primary school-aged children in Liberia. To this date, around 100,000 of these children still remain out of school. The AED 2,093,895 (USD 570,000) program, launched in partnership with ‘The Luminos Fund’, focuses on reducing the number of out-of-school children and supports their reintegration into the formal education system. During the first year, the program aims to establish 4-5 months long accelerated learning classes, designed specifically for children who missed school for a prolonged period of time due to the epidemic. The second year of the program will target children who have been out of school for three years or longer. The program will benefit children in grade 1-3 transitioning to formal public schools in grade 4. 

Speaking on the launch of this new program in Liberia, Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer at Dubai Cares said: “As thousands of schools in Liberia reopen their doors following the Ebola epidemic, it is important that children return to school and start learning in an accelerated way to make up for the lost time. At Dubai Cares, we believe that the recovery process for Liberia is a chance not just to rebuild the country, but to improve and accelerate children’s long-term learning and development. We hope that this program will equip children with the right level of knowledge to continue their educational journey, so that they become productive citizens and future leaders of Liberia.”

The 2014 Ebola virus disease outbreak in Liberia represents the most significant setback to the country's development in over a decade. The economic impacts have taken a very real and tangible human toll: increase in morbidity and mortality due to to Ebola; rising numbers of children, particularly girls dropping out of school because of the protracted school closures in the midst of the epidemic; and threats to food security.  

Abdulrahman Alzuebi, Country Program Officer at Dubai Cares said: “Children in Liberia are victim to a long-decade civil war, natural disasters, and epidemics, pulling them away from their basic right to education. Through an approach that implements an innovative, play-based teaching pedagogy, Dubai Cares aims to help out-of-school children in Liberia catch up with their peers, and ultimately reduce the overall rate of children not attending school in the country. We will continue to do our best with our partner, the Luminos Fund, to make sure children get the help they need to stay up-to-date with their education, as well as providing them with the support and resources they need to stay in school for the long-term.”