Why Highway Academy Is Crucial for Children’s Education

I was able to go visit Highway Academy’s primary school yesterday and today. The children are so cute. Some are even as young as three years old. They are very well behaved. Whenever I entered the room, they stood up and greeted me. They all have a bit of trouble saying “Caroline,” but hopefully many will be able to say it well soon. I visited all the classrooms yesterday and got to even teach them a Swahili song I learned from class this year.

Visiting Highway Academy's Primary School

I also visited the public school, Bukembe Primary School, where Teresa works at to help pay for Wema and Highway Academy. There is a huge juxtaposition between Highway Academy and Bukembe Primary School. Public primary school is free for all students in Kenya. This does not mean that it is good. Students are still coming back to school, so, even though it was not as full as it usually is, which is about 150 students per classroom, the classroom was packed. There were only a few desks in the classroom, so most students sat on the dusty floor. The students were easily distracted by the other students peeking in through the windows and trying to get in through the closed door. The students were learning how to write upper and lower case letters in the alphabet. Even though most repeated what Teresa and their peers were saying out loud, many were not looking at the blackboard and looked distracted. Teresa had us help her check the students’ notebooks. As much as we tried to help the students write the letters, there were just too many and they did not seem to understand us. I felt a bit hopeless.

Bukembe Primary School Classroom (not as full as it usually is)

Highway Academy Primary School Classroom

However, when we helped teach students of a similar age at Highway Academy’s primary school, we found desks throughout the classroom and were able to read a story and go over nouns and punctuation marks with the Highway Academy kids. The students leapt out of their desks when they wanted to answer a question, waving their hands in the air and snapping for attention. Students are easily left behind in the public schools of Kenya. This is not the case at Highway Academy.

With Katie at Highway Academy Primary School

Students fooling around in the back of the classroom (true in any country)

Storm coming in (has rained almost every afternoon here)