ONLY boys showed up for school at the Portmore Missionary Preparatory on Friday – and with good reason.

The school was staging its first-ever ‘Boys’ Day 2006′.

The event, which was organised by guidance counsellor Hulda Williams and principal Cynthia Williams (not related), aims to boost the youngsters confidence and promote healthy self awareness.

“We want to see our boys as role models, and encourage them to be men of standard in the future,” the guidance counsellor said. The separation from the girls, she said, allowed the boys to feel special as a gender. “Also in this space, you can discuss issues that affect their particular gender,” she added.

Principal Williams, for her part, remarked that “it was important that the boys not be distracted by the girls” attending the institution.

A number of speakers addressed the boys during the event, dubbed, ‘I am a promise, we are the future’.

Reverend Wilbert Rowe, pastor of the Wayside Assembly in Kingston urged the boys to be “peacemakers at all times”.

“Boys, it is important that you assess your behaviour. and know too, that all of you are special,” Rowe told the students from grades one to six.

Kingston College star athlete, Alain Bailey also chatted briefly with the boys. He underscored the need for them to strike a balance between athletic activities and their school work.

Meanwhile, head boy Sadiki Cole, 12, noted that although girls were important to his social development, he liked the idea of not having them around for a day. He said, too, that he was grateful for the opportunity to learn what it means to be a man.

“I learned that I should always keep a promise no matter what!”

Added Cole: “I can be anything I want to be, if I put my mind to it.” He also mentioned that the staging of Boys’ Day 2006 was a foretaste of high-school life.

“It’s a good experience (since) some of the Grade Six boys want to go to all-boys schools,” he explained.

During the day, the youngsters entered balloon-blowing contests, sang lustily and danced up a storm. The school yard was filled with the sounds of delightful screams and cheers.