The Manager for Human Capacity Building and Development at Bea Mountain Mining Corporation, Mr. Oliver Gipli says the company remains committed to ensure the full operation of the Daniel F. Tolbert Memorial Academy and Vocational Institute for the good of its host communities in Grand Cape Mount County.
Speaking over the weekend when the Minister of Education, Prof. Dao Ansu Sonii paid a courtesy visit to Kinjor Gola Konneh, Grand Cape Mount County where the school was built by Bea Mountain Mining Corporation for citizens of its host communities, Mr. Gipli firstly thanked Minister Sonii for honoring their invitation to come and assess the newly constructed facility.
Mr. Gipli further said if the Management of Bea Mountain did not have the intention to make the Daniel F. Tolbert Memorial Academy and Vocational Institute operational, the company wouldn't have gone to higher ups at the Ministry of Education, which according to him signals that the BMMC's Management is ready to support the school.
The school which is pending official dedication to the people of Grand Cape Mount County and especially those in Bea Mountain host communities for academic 2023/2024 will run from 10th to 12th Grades with three initial TVET programs which will include Agriculture, Catering, and Information Technology IT.
At the same time, Mr. Oliver Gipli disclosed that Bea Mountain Mining Corporation will provide maintenance for the infrastructure they have built and will provide stipends for teachers who will be teaching at the school.
He indicated that currently, the School Chief and Deputy Administrators, Registrar and Janitors are being given stipends by BMMC.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Professor Ansu Dao Sonii has extolled the Management of Bea Mountain Mining Corporation (BMMC) for the construction of such a modern Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) School in Kinjor, Grand Cape Mount County.
Speaking with a team of Journalists shortly after a day-long tour of the school's facility, the Education Ministry boss commended the Company for the construction of what he describes as "an elaborate school facility" as expected by the Ministry
The Daniel F. Tolbert Academy and Vocational Institute that is expected to start normal academy activities in September this year was exclusively built by BMMC.
The TVET School when opened, will be run and be managed by the Government of Liberia with support from the company.
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"We want to thank Bea Mountain for these facilities, this a good partnership, and this is not a company's school, it is a government school provided by the Company, for the people to be administered by the Government. So, whatever they do for us going forward is a compliment. They are going to help us maintain it, but those that should be responsible to maintain it first are us the citizens, our Board, our PTA our students," Minister Sonii asserted.
Minister Sonii further encouraged citizens of Grand Cape Mount County to take full ownership of the TVET School constructed by BMMC.
"The attitude that this is government property, we have to get away from that, because government does not sit in these classrooms, it's the children of the people that come from this place that come to school here," the MOE boss stressed.
He used the occasion to call on residents of Kinjor and Cape Mount to help maintain the school facility.
