Bowman Teachers' Final Day at Sagam Primary

On our teachers' final day at Sagam Primary, we were fortunate to be invited to participate in a regional "Education Day". This is a special day in which a number of schools from a local area get together to celebrate educational achievements. At the Education Day there are speeches, special performances, and awards for teachers recognizing teaching excellence. Education Days occur once a term. Schools are closed for the day so that all children may attend the special ceremonies. If the school that is hosting is near by, every child attends. As the school hosting was a long way away, only the "standard 8" students walked the long way to be present.

At Sagam Primary, as this was our Bowman Teachers' last day, all the students arrived at school on their day off at the regular time so that they would have a chance to "say goodbye" to Miss Thompson and Mrs. Glenn. Students brought an array of gifts to thank us for our time with them, including handmade brooms, hand drawn pictures and baskets. We brought them all home to share with Bowman.

Then it was off to Education Day. Traveling for half hour over bumpy roads, we finally entered the compound of the new school and found that we were once again honored guests. First we were introduced by Peter Onyango, Sagam Primary's head teacher, as members of his Sagam Primary staff, and then as Principal of Bowman, I was asked to say a few words about our partnership! And the entertainment began! The entertainment included recitation of poetry, both well-known and student-authored, and music and dancing.



Two Sagam Primary School teachers, Edwin Amollo and Gordon Omondy won awards for excellence in teaching for having the their students score the highest regionally in the most recent examinations. Having had the pleasure of watching these talented teachers teach, it is no wonder that many of our Sagam Primary students were doing well!

At the same time, it is striking how the numbers of girls attending school declines in the upper grades. School attendance for girls is often not as great a priority as it is for boys, and many families lack the funds and motivation to keep girls in school. One of the partnership challenges that both schools agree on is that we want to work together to see if we can come up with creative solutions to help girls stay in school!

And as our standard eight students (the final year at Sagam Primary) prepare for exams in November that will determine admission to secondary school, many of our Sagam Primary students who qualify, will be unable to attend due to lack of tuition. We will be looking to share the profiles of some of these students soon, in the hopes that they may inspire sponsorships. It costs $400.00 USD a year to go to a nearby secondary school. This is about the total yearly salary of a night watchman!