THE director of a Sierra Leone charity banned from visiting a Stockport school amid fears about the Ebola virus is to give a talk at Bicester Community College tomorrow.

Miriam Mason-Sesay, originally from Banbury, is due to meet the students who have raised £1,300 for her charity EducAid, which runs a network of free schools in Sierra Leone.

The 48-year-old, who was awarded the MBE last year for her outstanding work in West Africa, was stopped from visiting St Simon’s Catholic Primary in Stockport two weeks ago.

Despite being assessed by Public Health England on her return to the UK and cleared for unrestricted travel, the school said “misguided hysteria” among parents had forced it to cancel the visit.

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But Bicester Community College said it was delighted to welcome Ms Mason-Sesay, who will give a talk in assembly and teach a geography lesson during the visit.

EducAid runs six schools in Sierra Leone, with 3,000 students in total, but with all schools in lockdown since the Ebola outbreak, the charity is now reaching only about 10 per cent of them, mainly orphans who live on site.

Bicester Community College assistant headteacher Roland Howard, who has worked as a teacher in Sierra Leone, said the visit posed no risk to the students.

He said: “There’s a bit of a media panic going on. Clearly people are frightened but the facts are that she’s been cleared – she hasn’t got Ebola. I can understand people without knowledge being frightened. EducAid does fantastic work and it’s great for our students to be involved.”

The money raised is enough to pay for 10 students’ education, accommodation and food for one year.

Ms Mason-Sesay said the ebola outbreak was having a “devastating” impact on her charity’s work. But she added: “We’re very grateful to Bicester Community College for raising this money.”

The school’s plan for an exchange project with a Sierra Leone school have been put on hold until the outbreak is under control, but students have spent the past six months organising cake sales and mufti days for EducAid.

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