Last Friday, four Lakipia East (Daraja’s district) high schools joined Daraja Form 4 students in an English and Swahili symposium, the first of its kind. While educational symposiums have been used as a tactic for boosting test scores around Kenya, this is perhaps one of the first whereby an entire district joined forces in an effort to boost education.

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A little over a month ago, Daraja’s head staff gathered with other Laikipia East heads of schools to discuss what were, unfortunately, lower-than-expected KCSE test scores around the district. (In its first-ever KCSE year, Daraja had the third-highest KCSE scores of all 18 Laikipia East schools.) The heads of schools decided to join in numerous symposiums over the course of this year so that high school seniors could learn from one another.

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Later in the year, these same five schools will gather to cover symposiums that include sciences (chemistry, physics), math, geography, and history. So far, the first symposium, whose focus was both English and Swahili literature, was a useful tool. “We did it to bring students together and help us teach each other. Teachers were only there to help us where we were unable to explain,” said Mercy, a Daraja Form 4. Some of the literature they discussed included “The River Between,” “Shred of Tenderness,” “Utengano,” and “Mstahiki Meya.”

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A week prior to the symposium, each school was given a question based on a text, for which they spent the week preparing answers. Then, on Friday, each school  presented the answers they’d prepared in front of all the other students (there were 174 in total!) and a panels of the schools’ head (English and Swahili) teachers. Then, teachers gave feedback, adding information and correcting mistakes where needed. “It was very helpful,” explained Pascalina, another Form 4. “The best part was that the students had modeled

[the literature] in a different way than how we normally do it in class.” Added Mercy, “I liked how the other students had different definitions of different things used in literature – we all had different interpretations of the books.” The next symposium (for the sciences) will be held next Saturday, and we’re excited to see how these 174 local students help “lift each other up.”