-Cut down US$10,000 to US$15,000 cost annually; Honors honor roll students
Amidst the struggle for electricity across the country, the More Than Me Academy, an all-girls tuition-free school, has inaugurated a modern and durable solar power that has a life span of five to seven years before maintenance.
The inaugurated solar power puts on the fans in the classrooms and offices, three to four air conditions, light, and will also provide electricity for the academy’s digital learning center that will be completed shortly.
The More Than Me Academy is operated by Hilltop Schools, a Liberian NGO with the mission to educate Liberia’s future leaders through quality education, health, and safeguarding programs.
The Hilltop Schools in 2021 got awarded a US$60,000 grant from the Honnold Foundation to set up solar power and the administration has expressed delight about the new development.
The solar power cost is around US$41,000, but will serve the school between five to seven years before maintenance is carried out, the administration said on Friday, February 18, 2022, at the honoring program of honor roll students and dedication of the solar power.
The administration was spending between US$10,000 to US$15,000 on maintenance and fuel but the new solar power will totally cut down said cost, according to the academy’s authority. The campus has been running on solar power since January 13, 2022.
The school runs a tuition-free program and provides uniforms, book bags, and copybooks for all students, and this year’s enrollment is put at 280 students. The administration provides breakfast and lunch for students
In July 2019, the Hilltop Schools took over the More Than Me Academy from the More Than Me Foundation.
Acting Director of Growth at the Hilltop Schools, Gerald Hodges, said the initiative was made possible through the general support of the Honnold Foundation, an American NGO that is focused on providing support to organizations that are committed to sustainable living.
The Honnold Foundation supports organizations around the world by building solar power system farms, irrigation projects, hospitals, and schools, and Hilltop Schools is the first NGO to have benefited in Liberia, Mr. Hodges said.
The Superintendent of the Monrovia Consolidated School System (MCSS), Isaac Zawolo at the commissioning of the solar power lauded the administration for undertaking such a worthy initiative.
“We want to appreciate you for the tremendous job you continue to do here at the More Than Me School. This is an innovative initiative and it speaks for what I say to Liberian people that we need to think outside of the box,” Superintendent Zawolo said.
Superintendent Zawolo said the leadership of the MCSS is beginning to look at such an initiative and will ensure that each of the MCSS’s schools has a solar power install there in order to have a constant and reliable power supply.
“We also want to appreciate you for your innovation, creativity, dedication, and commitment. Your idea of education is mind buckling. With all the things people say about Liberia, this is one of the brightest things you have done,” Superintendent Zawolo said.
In another development, Superintendent Zawolo called on the honoring students to be focused and keep making the academy proud.
He described the students as some of the brightest minds in Liberia despite the country’s education system being considered as a “mess” by former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
Superintendent Zawolo further called on the students to take their education seriously and ensure that they can come tomorrow to serve the institution, stating “I love you all students and will continue to cherish you people and I see you people smiling which shows that you are happy to be here.”
Acting Executive Director of the More Than Me Academy, Sylvestine Gbessagee said the institution was selected based on the services being provided to the students and the population the institution is serving.
“These said equipment; we can do a lot of things at the More Than Me Academy, including programs for our parents in the evening and the weekend. I am sure more schools can benefit from such a program for our kids and be educated with light because light brings light,” Director Gbessagee said.
Editor: Alvin Worzi
Email: worzialvin2011@gmail.com
Phone number: +231886971780/+231777386086
Whassap: +231886971780/+231777386086
