Miro Forestry and Timber Products has constructed the United Methodist Church Primary School in Sierra Leone. The school was officially handed over to the local community on Thursday 27 June 2024.
UMC Primary School currently enrolls 290 pupils from 10 communities with a 10km radius. The school was established by the United Methodist Church in the ‘80s but the building had dilapidated to the extent that learning could not take place effectively during the rainy season. Primary School education is free and compulsory in Sierra Leone but most schools are challenged with a conducive learning environment and learning materials. However, all teachers approved to teach in primary schools are on government payroll including UMC primary school. The primary school education curriculum in Sierra Leone develops the child’s basic literacy and numeracy skills with key emphasis on the cognitive, affective and psychomotor of the learner.
With the intervention of Miro, UMC Primary School Masethleh now has six conducive classrooms and an office for the school headmaster. Sierra Leone adopted the 6334 education in 1996 which divides the country’s education system in four stages:
• Six years in primary school with an age bracket of 6 – 12
• Three years of junior Secondary school with an age bracket of 12-14
• Three years of senior secondary school with an age bracket of 14-17
• Four years of tertiary education with an age bracket of 17-21
Country Manager, George Catterick commented that education and associated facilities to promote Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education are vital for the future prosperity of all communities in the area surrounding Miro’s operation as well as for the Nation as a whole. “As our business and field operations expand the need for educated persons who have grown up in this forest and forest industry environment will be vital to fill technical, administrative and financial positions in the future” he said.
For further information, email info@miroforestry.com or go to the website https://www.miroforestry.com/
Note to editor:
Miro Forestry and Timber Products was founded in 2009 and has since established over 20,000 hectares of forest on degraded lands in Ghana and Sierra Leone, planting over 20 million trees; 3000 people are employed across the group which is a major contributor to rural employment. The products are sold worldwide, direct to end customers such as merchants, formwork specialists and construction companies , as well as bulk importers; all products are made in Miro’s factories which are located adjacent to the timber plantations.