Operation Classroom – Sierra Leone

The Taiama Enterprise Academy (TEA) addresses the realities of low income and access to goods and services in rural areas all across Sierra Leone. The academy is located in a rural area in the southern part of the country where senior secondary students need general skills, such as computer science, construction, agriculture, welding and engine mechanics. Through the various departments, entrepreneurial enterprises are developed and used as income-producers for the overall operation of the school and as teaching tools for students to experience starting and running a business. The curriculum includes concepts of becoming entrepreneurs and business owners. TEA encourages students to start their own business in their community based on the community’s specific needs.

The goal is to educate secondary students today to be the problem solvers and entrepreneurs of tomorrow, leading to a way of life that is productive and economically stronger and offers hope, which will lift one family at a time out of poverty, impacting the family, community and country.

Six years after students graduate from Taiama Enterprise Academy, they are established in a business or service that was not available to the community when they first attended academy.