British school bans nine-year-old from Sierra Leone because parents fear he could give classmates Ebola

A British school has banned a nine-year-old from Sierra Leone because parents of wards fear that the boy could give his classmates Ebola.

Kofi Mason-Sesay, who has joint nationality that is British and Sierra Leonean nationality to spend several weeks at St Simon's Catholic Primary School in Stockport.

However, the placement was cancelled after 'ignorant' parents campaigned against Kofi or his British mother Miriam going to the school, fearing they could pass on the disease which has killed at least 678 people in Sierra Leone.

Below is the letter sent to Kofi's parent 

Dear Parents/Carers,

It was with a very heavy heart that Mr Coleing, Chair of Governors, and I took the pragmatic decision to cancel Miriam and Kofi’s visit to St Simon’s this month.

Since the Ebola outbreak I have given constant thought to Miriam’s visit. I have been in regular contact with the local authority who put me in touch with Dr David Baxter’s team (Stockport) and Public Health England. I have also been in touch with Miriam who sent me links to documentation. The governors discussed the visit last Thursday.

Miriam and her son have been screened, given a 1 rating, which gives them unrestricted movement in this country. Our government would not allow this if they thought there was any significant risk.

I understand that there is a lot of misinformation about how Ebola is spread. A significant number of parents have been in touch with me to express their fears. As you know, I always listen to parents. Ebola cannot be spread as some parents have suggested.

There are many parents who believe that the visit should have gone ahead and that we are contributing to misunderstandings by cancelling it.

In this instance, it has been very hard to juggle justice to Miriam and the views of parents. Of course I would never endanger any child or colleague and I have to put my trust in the professionals.

It is with great sadness that we decided to cancel the visit; the misguided hysteria emerging is extremely disappointing, distracting us from our core purpose of educating your children and is not an environment that I would wish a visitor to experience.

I propose that we make a sizeable donation to Educaid in recognition of the tremendous contribution made by Miriam to Sierra Leone, a country which has received more than its share of setbacks. Please send in whatever you can over the next week and we will make sure that it goes straight to those who need it most.

Best wishes,

Elizabeth Inman

Headteacher