The first year of Siraba School’s Middle School—known as the “second cycle” in Mali—is complete! Students from Dagabo no longer have to walk 16 kilometers each day to attend middle school in Piébougou. This year, they were able to stay close to home and were joined by students from surrounding villages to inaugurate the expanded school.

The newly constructed three-room building, located across from the main Siraba School buildings, welcomed 60 students in grades 7–9: 24 girls and 36 boys.

Siraba Middle School’s four teachers cover French, History, Geography, Math, English, Biology, and Chemistry. The English teacher also coaches after-school sports. During OGV’s US team visit in January, teachers expressed gratitude for the books, school supplies, and teaching materials provided.

The science teacher requested additional materials to support hands-on experiments and demonstrations, which had not been possible in their previous middle school. With donor support, we plan to expand classroom resources, making science more engaging through simple yet powerful experiments, like turning sugar into carbon or showing chemical reactions using baking soda. These activities can be transformative for students whose exposure to science has been limited.

Teachers report high attendance and strong commitment from students. While they await results from the national DEF exam (given at the end of 9th grade), they are optimistic about student performance, and confident success rates will continue to rise. OGV’s Mali team has also noted significant growth in students’ confidence, maturity, and sense of pride as the first class to benefit from the middle school expansion of Siraba School.