9 March 2023
MRM donates school bags to help local children
Children from two schools in Montepuez district were the recipients of 2,300 school bags gifted by Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) to bolster educational standards in the area.
The initiative was timed to coincide with the start of the 2023 school year and came in response to MRM’s growing awareness of the long distances some local children have had to travel to school, either carrying their heavy books or toting them in makeshift bags. It has been met with joy from school directors.
The school bags were distributed to the 800 enrolled students at Mararange Primary and Secondary School, in the Administrative Post of Mirate, 70km from Montepuez City; and to all 1,500 students at Mpupene Primary School, in the Administrative Post of Namanhumbir, 25km from the district centre. There are plans to roll out the bags to a further 800 students – including some with special needs – at other local schools in the near future.
School directors have praised the initiative and highlighted the added comfort it will bring to students, especially those living farther away from school. This follows on from 1,500 school bags that MRM distributed in 2022 – and underscores its commitment to improving the quality of life of residents in communities close to the mine. Along with health care, education is a key area of focus for Montepuez Ruby Mine.
The growing need for school bags reflects the influx of families to Montepuez as people continue to flee the violence resulting from the insurgency in Cabo Delgado province. This has placed a strain on local resources, and educational provision, which gives added incentive for MRM, and its parent company, Gemfields, to help.
In response to the overcrowding in local schools, MRM and the Gemfields Foundation (the charitable arm of Gemfields) have also built new classrooms and the area’s only operational computer lab, as well as previously building new schools and rehabilitating existing ones. The work will continue to extend and improve standards of education in this area.
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