Protecting children from learning loss in Sierra Leone Format 22,000 teachers were also trained on health and safety protocols before schools reopened The youth of Sierra Leone were already poorly served by an education system starved of resources. Then the global COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, and schools shut their doors. The pandemic brought grim reminders of the Ebola crisis of 2014, which led to eight months of school closures in Sierra Leone. The impacts were soon evident. Research by the World Bank estimated that girls aged 12–17 were 16 percent less likely to return to school after the Ebola crisis subsided. Child labor by girls increased by 19 percentage points.