News: Yikes! British school bans 9 y.o from Sierra Leone over Ebola fears

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

Kofi Mason-Sesay, who has joint British and Sierra Leonean nationality, was due 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.

Kofi was due to join St Simon's while Mrs Mason-Sesay carries out fundraising visits to other schools as part of her work with charity EducAid Sierra Leone, which runs schools for vulnerable children in the west African country.

Public Health England have confirmed there is no risk in Kofi or Mrs Mason-Sesay attending the school, but parent power led to the initiative being cancelled. 

Mrs Mason-Sesay, 48, who has spent 14 years with the charity, said she and Kofi were given the green light to travel by Public Health England, but misunderstandings over the virus has seen them treated like ‘lepers’.

As a British citizen, Kofi has a right to education when he is in the UK, and normally takes classes at the school twice a year, during the spring and autumn, and staying for up to two months.

It is thought some parents at the school started a petition against the visit, putting pressure on the headteacher and school governors to cancel the trip.

'It’s heartbreaking,' said Mrs Mason-Sesay. 

'Unfortunately there was so much pressure from an ignorant parent body that the school had to act.