South Auckland was a hub of indigenous pride as the Auckland Polyfest 2024 revealed a vibrant celebration of cultural diversity, youth empowerment, and the enduring legacy of Pasifika heritage.

From the rhythmic beats of Cook Islands drums to the grace and elegance of Siva Samoa, the festival brought together over 200 teams from 69 schools across Aotearoa.

Polyfest, now in its 49th year, continues to captivate audiences as one of the largest Pacific festivals in Aotearoa.

What began in 1976 as a modest gathering to encourage pride in cultural identities has evolved into a monumental event, attracting up to 100,000 visitors annually.

Held at the Manukau Sports Bowl, secondary school students from across New Zealand share traditional dance forms and compete on six stages over four days.

Five stages are dedicated to the Cook Islands, New Zealand Māori, Niue, Samoa and Tonga.

A sixth “diversity” stage encourages representation and involvement of students from all other ethnicities, ranging from Fijian, Kiribati and Tuvaluan, through to Chinese, Filipino, Indian and South Korean.

‘Rite of passage’
For festival director Terri Leo-Mauu, Polyfest represents more than just a showcase of talent — it’s a platform for youth to connect with their cultural heritage and celebrate their identities.

Auckland Polyfest 2024 – a vibrant showcase.  Video: RNZ

“It’s important for them to carry on the tradition, a rite of passage almost,” Leo-Mauu said.

“It’s also important to them because they get to belong to something, they get to meet friends along the way and get to share this journey with other people.”

The sentiment is echoed by participants like Allen Palemia and Abigail Ikiua, who serve as youth leaders for their respective cultural teams.

For Palemia, leading Aorere College’s Samoan team, Polyfest is a chance to express cultural pride and forge lifelong connections.

“Polyfest is great . . .  it is one of the ways we can express our culture and further connect and appreciate it.”

Similarly, Ikiua, a team lead for the Niue team, sees Polyfest as a platform for cultural revival and self-discovery.

Reconnecting culture
“I think Polyfest is a good place for people to reconnect to their culture more, and just a way for people to find out who they are and embrace it more.”

Connection to their indigenous heritage plays a huge role in the identities of the young ones themselves.

Fati Timaio from Massey High School is representing Tuvalu, the third smallest country in the world.

He shared how proud he is to be recognised as Tuvaluan when he performs.

“It’s important to me cus like when people ask me oh what’s your nationality? and you say Tuvaluan they will only know cus you told them aye but like when you come to Polyfest and perform, they know, they will look at you and say oohh he’s Tuvaluan . . .  you know what I mean.”

Festival goers say this celebration of cultural identities from te moana nui o kiva and beyond is reinvigorating the young ones of Aotearoa.

The caliber of performances was astronomical, an indication of what to expect at next year’s event, which will also be the 50th anniversary of Polyfest.

50 years event
The 50 year’s celebrations next year are expected to be even bigger and better following the announcement of a $60,000 funding boost by the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Dr Shane Reti.

Reti said the government’s sponsorship of the festival recognises the value and role languages play in building confidence for Pacific youth.

An additional $60,0000 funding boost will also be given to the festival in 2030 to mark its 55th year.

With the 50th anniversary of Polyfest on the horizon, the future of the festival looks brighter than ever, promising even greater opportunities for cultural exchange, community engagement, and youth empowerment.

Festival organisers are expecting participant figures to surpass pre-covid numbers at next year’s event.

The pre-pandemic record saw 280 groups from 75 schools involved.

• Competition results are available here

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji got to celebrate World Oceans Day this week — a day when our conscience gets the occasional prick on matters related to the value of the ocean in sustaining life.

I like to brag about growing up surrounded by the sea and those unique moments during childhood I spent rowing across Qamea’s picturesque and mangrove-fringed Naiviivi Bay, plucking seashells from shallow tide pools and digging up vetuna (sandworm) from the sand.

Yes, the sea is a way of life for all of us.

Think of this.

The ocean covers more than 70 percent of the planet.

It is our life source, supporting humanity’s sustenance and existence, and that of every other organism on earth.

The ocean produces much of the oxygen we breath and need to survive, it is the habitat of most of earth’s biodiversity and is the main source of meat protein for more than a billion people around the world.

40 million ’employees’
The ocean is key to our economy with an estimated 40 million people to be employed by ocean-based industries by 2030.

In Fiji, an estimated 60 percent of the 900,000 population are thought to live in coastal communities, surviving on activities linked to the ocean, and our fisheries and tourism sectors are so intrinsically connected to the health of the ocean.

But the ocean we call our home is facing a variety of threats that challenges its existence and endangers humanity.

United Nations statistics say that we have depleted 90 percent of big fish populations and destroyed 50 percent of coral reefs.

“We are taking more from the ocean than can be replenished. We need to work together to create a new balance with the ocean that no longer depletes its bounty but instead restores its vibrancy and brings it new life,” the UN says.

With such dreadful reality in the backdrop, the 2023 WOD theme seemed timely and relevant — “Planet Ocean: tides are changing”.

It provides us with an opportunity to rethink what we’ve done, what we need to do and how to work together with world leaders, decision-makers, indigenous leaders, scientists, private sector executives, civil society, celebrities, and youth activist to make the health of the ocean a public agenda.

Clean up day
On Wednesday this week, The Fiji Times’ front page photo was of Josaia Waqaivolavola, a Year 2 student from Veiuto Primary School who was captured on camera participating in a beach clean up at My Suva Picnic Park along the Nasese foreshore.

His group collected 10 trash bags filled with plastics, among others.

It’s when we see the amount of rubbish along our coastlines and in the sea around us that we begin to realise that all the talk about “putting rubbish in the bin” is not working.

We talk about responsible citizenship but plastics continue to pollute our communities, roads, streets and parks, and our oceans.

Plastics have become so cheap to produce that we are producing things we don’t intend to keep for long.

In other words, we are producing plastics only to throw them away.

We are now mass producing disposable plastics at a phenomenal rate that the world’s waste management systems are finding hard to keep up.

40% of plastics disposable
It is estimated that about 40 percent of the now more than 448 million tonnes of plastics produced every year is disposable and used in products intended to be discarded virtually soon after purchase.

Just go to the beach and you’ll find them on the sand.

World statistics estimate that each day billions upon billions of plastic material find their way into our rivers, streams and eventually into our oceans.

During my childhood years on Qamea, my family’s livelihood depended on the sea.

At a time, when village canteens had no refrigerators to store meat, the sea was our main source of daily meat protein.

Many years ago, scientists and environment experts were warning us that the amount of plastics in the world’s ocean would increase 10 times by 2020.

That was three years ago.

Too polluted for fish
They further advised that by 2050, if statistical predictions remain true, we’d have so much plastics in the sea and our oceans would too polluted that fish and other delicacies would be unsafe to eat or we’d not be able to even swim anymore.

Cleaning the ocean is good but may not be good enough.

We need to nip this spiralling issue in the bud.

We need to work before the plastic reaches the ocean.

We need to work on land where they are produced before we go to the ocean.

In Fiji, the concern over disposable plastic waste is the same as the threat in other countries of the world — we are using more disposable plastics at a rate faster than we are able to effectively dispose them that our waste managing systems are struggling to contain the problem.

Recycling not effective
Our recycling initiatives are not effectively solving our disposable plastic dilemma.

During this year’s WOD celebrations, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the ocean as “the foundation of life”.

That pretty much sums everything up.

If the ocean is life, then why can’t we get out act together.

The ball is in everyone’s court and the time to act is now.

Until we meet again, stay blessed, stay healthy and stay safe!

John Mitchell is a Fiji Times journalist and writes the weekly “Behind The News” column. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Tens of thousands of ni-Vanuatu children could be experiencing “stress and trauma” after the double cyclones that tore through the island nation last week, say educators.

With widespread damages to infrastructure, many children have lost their homes, had their schools damaged, and neighbourhoods hit hard by tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin.

Port Vila International School teacher Cassidy Jackson-Caroll told RNZ Pacific it was important to prioritise school-aged children’s wellbeing during these times.

Jackson-Caroll said that requires all stakeholders to move quickly and restore a sense of normalcy and enable children to return to school.

“It is quite important [for schools to open],” she said, while noting the large-scale devastation caused by the twin cyclones.

“One thing I thought is the kids want to see their friends. They have spent a lot of time time at home tucked up with their families, which is very important [during cyclones]. But they also need a little relief to see that their friends are okay.”

She said no electricity and no running water is an issue across the country which means schools remain affected.

But she is hoping the situation will improve by next week and those children who can return to school will be able do so.

“I think it is important even if it is half days or two or three days a week for some kids that is enough because some are going to be traumatiSed,” she said, adding Port Vila International School will have a “soft opening” on Wednesday.

“Sometimes they might just need to see their friends and go and play some soccer or just have a hug. They just need to laugh away from the anxiety and stress and trauma that they might have at home,” she added.

Schools, health centres ‘damaged’
UNICEF estimates up to 58,000 children have been impacted and those in the worst affected provinces of Tafea and Shefa needing urgent assistance.

The UN agency’s Pacific representative Jonathan Veitch said “with power still out in many places, and boats and planes grounded or damaged, we still don’t have enough information on the impact of children in the outer islands of Tafea.”

“We know that schools and health centres have been damaged throughout the country.”

“UNICEF Pacific, in partnership with the government, has begun to support the children and families most affected,” he added.

Preliminary reports indicate that almost the entire population has been affected.

World Vision Vanuatu country director Kendra Derouseau said they are expecting similar destruction to Tafea province that occured following Cyclone Pam in 2015.

“We know that most homes will be partly or completely destroyed,” Derouseau said.

Food sources scarce
“The vast majority of the population in Tafea are subsistence agricultural farmers so food sources will be scarce and water sources will be contaminated.”

She confirmed that there were about 2000 people still in evacuation centres on Efate.

“People tend to sleep in the evacuation centres, leave vulnerable individuals and a carer in the centres during the day, and then go back to their homes to try and build and repair and then come back to sleep at night.”

But Derouseau said the number of people in evacuation centres were decreasing as people felt safe to go back to their home.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has sent relief supplies including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, and family hygiene kits and an initial financial contribution of NZ$150,000.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the government was working closely with Vanuatu to support this response, together with France and Australia.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Marshall Islands lost its covid-free status yesterday when tests confirmed six positive cases in the capital, the first known community transmission since the pandemic started in early 2020.

It was not immediately clear the source of the covid-19 spread as Marshall Islands borders have been closed since March 2020 and rules currently require 10 days of government-managed quarantine prior to release.

The six people who tested positive Monday had “no travel history, no contact with anyone who was in quarantine,” said Health Secretary Jack Niedenthal.

The government moved quickly last night to announce a halt to the start of the new school year with all island schools scheduled to open this week.

President David Kabua delivered a brief 90-second statement to the nation via an online live stream in which he announced that the Ministry of Health and Human Services had confirmed six people positive in the capital of Majuro.

The President’s short speech was the first official notice of news that in the fashion of a small island had spread several hours prior to his speech.

“I advise people to remain calm and follow the protocols to prevent covid,” Kabua said.

Wearing facemasks advice
President Kabua advised the country to follow established protocols of wearing facemasks when in public. Kabua wore a facemask while delivering his speech.

Notices on social media went viral in the minutes and hours after people learned of the first-ever covid community spread in this isolated north Pacific nation.

Although there were no rules except for school closure announced by government, within minutes of the official confirmation of the cases, a national basketball tournament game was halted mid-way through the contest Monday night, and some restaurants began shutting their doors.

The Office of the Chief Secretary said that the start of the new school year, which opened yesterday at some public schools and was scheduled to open later this week in private schools, would now be postponed for two months.

While businesses and government offices can continue as usual, hospital services will be modified and masks will be required in public for the next two months, said a statement issued by the government.

The government also announced a halt to travel by plane or ship to remote outer islands in hopes of restricting spread of covid to islands that have only rudimentary medical care services available.

“The most important lesson learned from Palau’s experience with a wave of covid starting in January is to protect the hospital during the initial stages of a covid outbreak,” said Niedenthal.

Protecting patients
“This is to protect both the patients already in hospital from being infected by incoming covid patients and, of equal importance, minimising the exposure of hospital staff so they can remain functional and on the job.”

The Ministry of Health and Human Services moved quickly last night to set up previously planned “test and treat” facilities in designated locations in the community.

Niedenthal said the number one lesson learned from watching other nations respond to their covid waves was the priority of “protecting the hospital”.

The goal, he said, is to have people use community test and treat facilities where health officials will perform tests and determine treatment needed.

The entire Marshall Islands has a population estimated at only 42,000 scattered on dozens of atolls and single islands. The two urban centers of Majuro and Ebeye, however, contain three-quarters of the population and many people live in overcrowded conditions ripe for the spread of covid.

Laboratory tests of people who were positive for covid while in managed quarantine last month showed they were all BA.5 variant. And ministry officials said they were proceeding on the basis that BA.5 is what they are seeing.

One local resident said that he was aware of a church member who was confirmed with covid yesterday.

“That means spreading already since yesterday was a busy day at church,” said the person.

Giff Johnson is editor of the Marshall islands Journal and the RNZ Pacific correspondent in Majuro. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Covid-19 restrictions for all of New Zealand will ease from midnight tonight but a leading epidemiologist says the country is divided over its risk

From 11.59pm tonight, all of New Zealand moves into the orange traffic light setting, Covid-19 Reponse Minister Chris Hipkins announced today.

He said the change in alert levels was justified for several reasons, including an ongoing decline in cases.

He said case numbers now sit below 10,000 new cases per day for the first time since February 24, and that hospitalisations in Auckland were lower, with all three DHBs each reporting fewer than 100 patients for the first time since late February.

Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker told RNZ Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan the move was reasonable for Auckland, which peaked almost six weeks ago.

“But that’s not the situation in the rest of New Zealand and particularly the South Island, even some DHBs in the North Island, like Northland and some of the others in the central North Island, are still seeing case numbers reported yesterday that were about 50 percent of their peak.

“So we are quite divided in terms of risk.”

Face masks out in schools
Under the orange setting, face masks are still required in some environments but not in schools.

Professor Baker said that with only 20 percent of younger students fully vaccinated, without masks there are not many barriers that stopped the virus circulating.

“And we do know anecdotally a lot of the way this virus is getting from one family to another is through transmission at school so this seems like a gap at the orange level.”

Hipkins said schools have been provided with guidance, and they have access to public health guidance so they can consider the advice for themselves.

“Ultimately looking at a school by school basis, in some schools there is still a very strong justification for masks — but not all.

“It is very challenging for schools, it has proven to be one of the most challenging covid-19 requirements.”

People who are young, healthy, fully vaccinated and boosted should be getting out much more because the risk from the infection is much less, Professor Baker said.

High vaccine coverage
“We know now of high vaccine coverage, we’ve actually pushed the fatality rate from this infection now to down to less than, it’s about 0.05 percent which is in a similar range now to seasonal flu — but it’s only because we’re highly vaccinated.”

Prior to vaccination there was a fatality risk of 0.5 percent, he said.

Te Pūnaha Matatini modeller Professor Michael Plank said: “It’s a good time to be relaxing the traffic light settings when cases and hospitalisations are declining in almost all parts of the country.”

Professor Plank is partly funded by the Department of Prime Minister and cabinet for research on mathematical modelling of covid-19.

“We have successfully flattened the curve of this Omicron wave — although hospitalisations and staff absences have put intense strain on our healthcare system, things would have been even worse without our efforts to slow the spread.”

While New Zealand is marking the end of its omicron sprint, it is at the beginning of its marathon, Professor Baker said.

“Covid-19 isn’t going to go away and we are very likely to have further waves of infection as immunity wanes, people’s behaviour gets back to normal, and new variants arrive,” he said.

“As we move away from restrictions and mandates, we need to work on a long-term, sustainable set of mitigations. This should include vaccines, high-quality surveillance systems, a focus on clean air indoors, and financial support for people to isolate when sick.”

Hybrid office/home set-up
With a change in restrictions, Victoria University of Wellington and Umbrella Wellbeing clinical psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland says the government will no longer encourage working from home.

But Dr Sutherland warned there may be psychological consequences for workplaces encouraging their people to return in person.

Flexibility and agility will be key for adjusting to this new normal, he said.

“It seems likely many people will continue working from home, at least some of the time.

“This presents a challenge to organisations about how they create psychologically safe teams in a dispersed environment. There is also the challenge of how to support people with different levels of anxiety associated with increased human contact.

“Research shows that allowing people to work from home a few days a week is associated with better wellbeing and productivity, so allowing workers to continue a hybrid office/home set-up should be encouraged.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A few shops and buildings in Papua New Guinea’s Western Highlands provincial capital Mt Hagen have been destroyed and looted in a riot that caused four deaths and left 20 people injured and hospitalised.

The violence was triggered by a fight between between Mt Hagen Secondary and Hagen Park Secondary schoolboys last Friday.

Provincial police commander Chief Superintendent Joe Puri said tension was high throughout the weekend but there were no further fights.

Tension continued yesterday forcing Mt Hagen police to set up a roadblock from the Komkui Building roundabout to the old tribes’ theatre roundabout to ensure normal business continued.

The roadblock was also to allow the relatives of the four victims to come forward to show their sorrow.

The fight last Friday occurred in the middle of the city and opportunists took advantage and destroyed Hagen Plaza, which houses a food restaurant, a Digicel shop, Trophy Haus and Fone Haus.

Bystanders said the opportunists ran in numbers into the plaza and grabbed whatever that was inside, including mobile devices, footwear, work wear and other valuable items.

‘Disappointed’ with the public
Chief Superintendent Puri said he was disappointed with the public for taking part in the fight where buildings were damaged and shops looted.

“The public is supposed to contain the fight when it first started among the boys rather than ignoring and joining in, as it went out of proportion and eventually led to deaths and injuries,” he said.

“We have taken the investigation very seriously since day one and have already engaged outside investigation teams so the situation is not compromised in any way, and after that, we will be able to identify who was involved.”

Chief Superintendent Puri also urged the public to maintain peace and look after properties and businesses in the province.

Service providers in the province have complained that students must not be involved in fights as opportunists often damage and loot their shops.

Other businesses that were targeted included Boroko Motors and Wamps Fuel Station.

Rita Peki is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Education Minister Chris Hipkins has warned that nearly every New Zealand school and early childhood centre will have contact with covid-19 in the next few weeks.

He told students at Mana College in Porirua today that one in five schools were already managing cases among students or staff but they were well prepared.

“We’re now up to one in five schools [which] have covid-19 cases in them and that’s going to just continue to increase from here,” he said.

“We expect in the next few weeks that just about every school, every early childhood service potentially is going to end up coming into contact with covid-19 as it spreads more rapidly throughout the community. That is now going to happen,” he said.

His comments came as the Ministry of Health reported an almost doubling of new community cases to 12,011, with five further deaths — the highest number in a single day taking the total to 61.

Yesterday’s number was 6137 cases.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said 8223 of the positive results came from Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs), while 3807 were PCR tests.

There are currently 237 people in hospital with the coronavirus, including three in intensive care.

92% of students vaccinated
Hipkins said 92 percent of secondary students were fully vaccinated, the government had 42 million facemasks on order or in the country for schools, and it was expecting 5000 air purifiers for rooms with poor ventilation.

He also said schools might get easier access to rapid antigen tests after two large orders arrived in the next two weeks.

Currently the tests were a last resort for teachers who were isolating and whose schools could not find enough teachers to safely supervise children who could not be at home, such as the children of essential workers.

“In another week or two we will have a greater supply of rapid antigen tests in the country and at that point we may be able to say actually we can be a bit more generous than that and we can provide tests in a few more circumstances than that including for what we call surveillance which is just to give you reassurance that it’s not out there,” Hipkins said.

Auckland Secondary Principals Association president Steve Hargreaves said that could make a big difference as the pandemic bites.

“That’ll help keep schools open.

“Schools are having to roster year levels home and children are having to learn remotely because so many staff are tied up as close contacts, family members have test positive but they’re still well, they’ve been able to isolate successfully at home and if we can keep those teachers in schools through the use of rapid antigen tests, that’ll be good for our children.”

After-school sport
Hipkins also promised to clarify the rules around unvaccinated children’s participation in after-school sport and cultural activities.

The Education Ministry’s website said there were no limits on curriculum-related activities like PE classes, but extra-curricular events like team training at schools must be limited to 25 people if any were unvaccinated and 100 if all were vaccinated.

Hipkins said that was not the government’s intention.

“Some schools are interpreting something like a kapa haka rehearsal after school hours or sports after school hours as being included in the guidance.

“We’d never intended for that to be the case so we’re clarifying that so to make it clear that if you’re participating in a school-organised activity, that includes sports, kapa haka, those other cultural events, the vaccine requirement will not apply,” he said.

The minister’s office and the ministry were unable to confirm details and Hargreaves said that was a shame, because he had unvaccinated students ready to play sport tomorrow.

“It’s really sad because we don’t want to exclude any children from these great extra-curricular opportunities but we’ve been following the guidelines around events, gatherings and those size limits and of course College Sport Auckland has its rule around needing to be vaccinated to comply with those rules and that’s blocked a few kids from playing and the sooner we can get this tidied up the better,” he said.

More detail needed
School Sport New Zealand chief executive Mike Summerell said he wanted to see more detail but allowing more unvaccinated children to play sport would be good.

“We welcome the news. It’s been a divisive and difficult time for sport and for schools in terms of inter-school activity but the announcement this morning means more kids are going to have access to sport where over the last few months they haven’t so that’s a real positive,” he said.

He said the change would not be enough to return big regional sports tournaments to the calendar because they involved more than 100 people.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Covid-19 will be in ‘just about every school’ soon – Hipkins https://t.co/6095x7BEfX

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 25, 2022

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Northland high school principal says she has been accused of being “complicit in mass genocide” by people opposed to getting vaccinated.

After today, anyone who works or volunteers in an education setting in New Zealand and who has not received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine will be barred from school grounds.

Last week, thousands of people marched up the streets of Wellington to Parliament to protest for various covid-19-related reasons.

Some were angry at the covid-19 vaccination mandates, the lockdowns or the vaccine itself.

The protesters screamed abuse at police and media, demanding an end to covid-19 restrictions.

This level of anger is all too familiar for Whangārei Boys High School principal Karen Gilbert-Smith.

“I appreciate that what’s happening for a lot of people is really challenging, but the kind of things that have been happening from my end, and I know speaking to other colleagues, they’re experiencing similar things, is relentlessness that we’re doing something to others,” Gilbert-Smith said.

‘Worst message’
“I think the worst message that I got was that I was complicit in mass genocide by supporting the vaccination mandate,” she said.

“We get a lot of emails from parents: the vast majority of those are positive, but the ones that kind of take the wind out of your sails and that require the most thoughtful response are the ones that are really awful and vindictive.”

The abuse was coming from all angles and although it was a minority, their voices were loud, Gilbert-Smith said.

“I think it’s the ill-informed or misinformed anti-vaxxers that are really whipping up that hatred. That just feels really abhorrent to me that misinformation just gets so widely spread and is leading to that sense of lack of safety for people in their communities.”

But today the no jab, no job policy for education staff officially kicks in.

Teachers need to have received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine if they want to continue to work with students in a face-to-face learning environment.

‘Where are we going to find those replacements?’
Gilbert-Smith preferred not to comment on their own staffing situation at Whangārei Boys High School, but did say she was nervous.

“As principals, many of us have had conversations about the impact in our own schools and certainly in Te Tai Tokerau, it’s likely to have a significant impact on staffing across our schools, so we’re not just talking about teachers,” she said.

“We’re talking about groundsmen, canteen staff, support staff, everyone. We can ill afford to have staffing shortages and in Tai Tokerau it’s difficult enough.”

She is concerned that it will impact on students.

“It’s hard enough to put well qualified, passionate, knowledgeable, smart teachers in front of students, which is what they deserve. And now we’re in a situation of being a little bit further behind than that.

“Where are we going to find those replacements? Particularly teachers. That is very worrying to me.”

She said the constant hate and abuse was wearing her down and was making it harder for her to do her job.

‘Creating reassurance’
“Principals are creating reassurance for everyone in their community, but also fielding all the negativity that comes. Anyone with aspirations of being a principal right now, they might be reconsidering at this point,” she said.

“We are obliged to uphold the law, and that’s what we’re doing as principals, and we’re doing the best that we can. We’re managing people’s expectations and we’re dealing with their upset and distress.

“And keeping the school running as we’re supposed to do on any other day of the week, or any other time of the year. It is a lot of work.”

Gilbert-Smith said she loved her job, but the current conversations had moved too far away from being about creating better outcomes for young people in Aotearoa.

“That’s a real shame because they are the ones that will suffer, those young people in our schools.”

The impact of the vaccine mandate on teacher supply will not be known until the vaccination deadline has passed and numbers are clear, according to the Ministry of Health.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The above photo is an image of how I grew up in Papua.

But before I share my story, I would like to extend my warm greetings to my fellow brothers and sisters who were on the day that I wrote this piece commemorating the 166th anniversary of evangelism in the Land of Papua.

As a fruit of evangelism, my parents had committed to be Christians and until now they still practise Christian lives.

My mom, who is the role model of my faith, has become a central part of my life. And I believe so do other people.

The following is a short story of faith which was accompanied by deeds that came true.

When I was studying in elementary school from grade 3 to 6 and in middle school from grade 7 to 9, I used to collect aluminium cans and sell them to a workshop so that I was able to buy a book, pencil, pen, and other school stationery.

For a 20 kg rice sack, I earned 5 cents. If I was lucky on the day, I sometimes collected 2 sacks in one day.

Needed new textbooks
I did this job when I needed a new book or to buy a textbook from school and sometimes to help my mom buy detergent to wash our laundry and dishes.

I normally started collecting the cans from the afternoon around 1 pm to 4 pm. I did this two or three times a week.

Sometimes I took my younger brother with me.

If I went with him, I bought him noodles and candies. Otherwise, he would cry and demand that I buy him candies, noodles or cakes.

As an older brother, I had to indulge his wishes and I always did.

That’s why sometimes I could not buy what I needed from a day’s earning. So, I normally saved left over money in my piggy bank.

I asked my mom to keep it. I had to do that to be able to buy a NZ$1 exercise book or NZ$5 textbook from school.

Hard-working out on the farm
My mom was and is a hard-working woman, so from morning to afternoon she was and is always out on the farm – traditional Papuan garden. Because she was so busy, she always asked me to look after my younger brother after school.

And my mom always prepared steamed sweet potatoes – sometimes small (just as big as a handful) and sometimes bigger than that, which was enough to still our stomach.

We are so fortunate that she always prepared something for lunch. My younger brother would always wait for me to come home and have lunch together.

My mom worked extremely hard herself as our dad was a chief and lived with his first wife. My dad thought that my mom’s children would not be successful in the future, so he paid more attention to his first wife and our older step-sister.

Long story short, we were and are so grateful to have a great uncle, my mom’s older brother who always treated us like his own children.

Due to my dad’s careless behaviour, my uncle took us in and raised us in his family. That’s why, when I was with my mom, she always advised me to work hard and never rely on other people and never forget to have some time for prayer.

She always encouraged us to go to Sunday school every Sunday morning. In my university studies, she always asks me to study hard and seriously.

Guiding your future
She always said that “Mom never went to school, but I have faith that when you study and pray, God will open many ways for you to be successful in the future.

“My prayers and hope will always guide you.”

My mom’s advice always became my inspiration to study; that’s why in middle school and high school I was always in the top 1 to 4 in the class.

In commemorating the 166th anniversary of the evangelism in the Land of Papua, let’s have faith and hope that the true mission laid by the missionaries (Carl Wilhelm Ottow and Johann Gottlob Geissler) as a foundation of the direction of our lives becomes our strength in viewing Papua as a land full of hope for future generations.

Waaa waaa waaa!

Laurens Ikinia is a Papuan Masters in Communication Studies student at Auckland University of Technology who has been studying journalism. He contributes to Asia Pacific Report. The article was first published on Ikinia’s social media blog.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinean parents have been assured that everything is being done to ensure the health and safety of children in school, although the final decision to send them to class is entirely theirs.

National Capital District Education Services Secretary Sam Lora made these points when responding to concerns raised by parents about the safety of sending children to school in the middle of a covid-19 community transmission in the capital city, with nine new cases reported on Monday.

He assured parents that the schools were doing all they could to stop the spread of the covid-19.

READ MORE: PNG schools follow no-mask-no-entry rule

“We respect parents if they do not feel safe for children to attend classes,” he said.

“We have a problem with social distancing, especially overcrowding. But it is compulsory now that every individual must wear a mask.”

The national total of the covid-19 cases reached 333 on Monday, with more than 200 alone in Port Moresby.

The oldest patient is 84 and the youngest two years old.

Worried about education
Mother-of-four Sybil Suruba from Northern, whose young twins are in grade three at the Wardstrip Primary School in Waigani said she was worried about her children’s education.

Her eldest daughter is in grade 10 at Gordon Secondary and her son is in Grade Nine at Gerehu Secondary School.

“I am worried sick for my children because they have missed out on a lot of lessons during the last two lockdowns,” Suruba said.

“I hope teachers will make up for all those lessons they have missed.”

Suruba said it would be best to cancel the rest of the 2020 academic year “to save students from stress and pressure, especially those who have exams”.

Parent Dagu Hebore from Central, who has three children at school, said she did not feel safe allowing her children to go to school.

Her eldest son is in grade eight at the Bavaroko Primary School in East Boroko, while her daughter is doing grade three there too.

‘Crowded classrooms’
Her youngest son attends the Edai Early Learning at Boera outside Port Moresby.

“Schools should only reopen when it is safe for the children, especially when we have crowded classrooms,” Hebore said.

Hebore said the only way she would feel safe for her children was to be assured that schools were strictly following public health measures and hygiene practices to stop the Covid-19 transmission.

Some children in Port Moresby have to travel by public buses to school, travelling with adult passengers who still do not wear masks and in crowded buses with no hand sanitisers provided.

But NCD Governor Powes Parkop said the National Capital District Commission buses were on the road yesterday transporting students.

Aileen Kwagaru is a reporter for The National newspaper. The Pacific Media Centre republishes articles from The National with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Schools in Papua New Guinea’s National Capital District resumed yesterday, with strict covid-19 protocols in place, and with several turning away those who came without masks.

This came in the wake of a new covid-19 spike with PNG reporting another 52 cases of covid-19 yesterday since Thursday, taking its total to 323.

Head teacher at Bavaroko Primary School, Catherine Moresi, said staff had communicated this message to parents several times and expected them to provide a face mask for their children, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

“As you can see, we have put a note which says ‘entry by masks’, so no masks, don’t come inside, even in the classroom … this morning, some had to turn back because they had no masks on,” she said.

Moresi said that since classrooms were hot and often crowded, they had advised kids to only remove masks once they were outside and away from friends.

“This is so that they can breathe properly because some classrooms have one fan and I don’t know how they are going to cope with the face masks till the end,” she said.

The Department of Education yesterday advised parents and guardians that children below the age of 12 years were not required to wear face masks.

Proper use of PPE
The advice comes amid concerns on the proper use of the PPE by children and the risks associated with prolonged covering of the nose and mouth for those under the age of 12 years.

Moresi said they were not aware of the department’s recent statement and were communicating to parents based on the ongoing advice received earlier from the department and from the Pandemic Controller.

“We are advising all students to wear a face mask, especially for the 12-year-olds and above,” she said.

“They must wear a mask,” NCD School Inspector Elizabeth Kosi said, revealing that during yesterday’s school inspection, most elementary kids turned up with masks.

“We are thanking parents because we know that they are taking that ownership to protect their children.”

Gordons Secondary School principal, George Kenega, said the school promoted the covid-19 protocols and would make sure to send home students who arrived without masks, knowing that enough awareness had been made regarding the importance of face masks.

“We made it clear that if you don’t come with a mask, you won’t be allowed entry into the school,” he said.

All Coronation children sent home
At Coronation primary, all its elementary and upper-primary were sent home yesterday and told to return today with face masks on, while the school took the day off to prepare schedules to minimise social distancing, which is a huge concern facing schools in NCD.

In the neighbouring Indonesian-ruled Papua province, almost 300 children aged below 19 have been infected with covid-19.

The Jakarta Post reports that the data from the Papua Covid-19 prevention task force is a cumulative number from late March to last week.

In French Polynesia, the covid-19 outbreak has prompted a week-long closure of several schools on Tahiti, reports RNZ Pacific.

Two schools have each reported a covid-19 case, including a school run by the Maohi Protestant Church which decided to shut its seven teaching establishments.

They all plan to reopen next week.

The last official tally showed 130 people had tested positive for the coronavirus in the second wave, which arrived after quarantine requirements for international arrivals were lifted last month when borders reopened to boost the tourism sector.

Guam has confirmed 42 new cases of covid-19 today bringing the territory’s total up to 558 with 5 deaths, reports RNZ Pacific.

Just days after the Northern Marianas recorded its 50th case of covid-19, the islands’ total has continued to rise with three more testing positive for the coronavirus on Sunday taking the total to 53.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Centre

Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) staff are calling for restraint and calm as a New Zealand family in isolation for Covid-19 coronavirus has been “battered through social media”.

ARPHS Director Dr William Rainger said the family had done everything right and had minimised the risk to others.

“The woman with the virus has gone straight into isolation with her family when she was told she was suspected of having Covid-19,” he said.

READ MORE: NZ students pulled from two schools after second Covid-19 case

“Yet they have become the focus of sustained and abusive bullying on social media and are being hounded by the media.

“There is a high level of anxiety and concern in the school and wider communities, but it is not acceptable to attack people who have been caught up in this global outbreak. They have taken all the right actions to protect others,” Dr Rainger said.

“As a public health service, we are worried that such attacks will lead people to hide any illness that might be Covid-19, and not seek medical attention.

“We will not be able to contain the spread of this illness, if the public response is so hostile towards cases and their families,” he said.

Support needed
The Ministry of Health also supported the ARPHS message.

“I want to say that this is a Kiwi family that has been affected by a virus that is part of a worldwide outbreak,” said Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

“What they need is support and understanding. Our task is to ensure they have all the support and health care they need.”

Two children have been withdrawn from two Auckland high schools because a family member has contracted the Covid-19 coronavirus.

Dr Bloomfield said a woman in her 30s was New Zealand’s second confirmed case of the virus.

She had returned to Auckland from northern Italy last week on a flight via Singapore.

The two children who live with her attend Westlake Boys and Westlake Girls high schools.

Dr Bloomfield said it was highly unlikely they would have spread to the virus to other students.

ARPHS media release and RNZ under a partnership agreement with the Pacific Media Centre.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Volunteer teachers are being wrongly labelled as “terrorists” by the Philippine government while paramilitary and mining activity increases in the country, say visiting indigenous Lumad education advocates.

Fritizi Junance Magbanua, a volunteer teacher and administrator with the Save Our Schools network, says teachers, schools and communities of indigenous peoples are being targeted and labelled as terrorists by the government.

The Save Our Schools network is a collection of 215 community based schools that operate throughout the southern Mindanao island region in the Philippines.

The network is part of community groups and advocates that fight for indigenous peoples rights to “defend their land, right to education, right to self-determination,” said Lorena Sigua at a public meeting in Auckland’s Peace Place last night.

She is a volunteer at Education Development Institute (EDI) curriculum development based in Mindanao.

“Save Our Schools has documented 89 harassments of our schools, 18 military activities inside our school vicinity, 27 schools forcibly shut down because of the intensifying military presence in our area,” said Magbanua.

This does not just apply to school teachers. “The environmental activists, human rights activists are also being targeted and tagged as terrorists,” said Sigua.

The indigenous people, known collectively as Lumads, are the main people suffering. “Our indigenous peoples in the Philippines are now being attacked by our government,” said Magbanua.

“Mostly those who are killed are our parents and our tribal leaders who constructed the schools.”

Mining behind military threat
The threat of paramilitary and government military activity is part of the government’s move to allow mining by multinational corporations in the area.

“The southern Mindanao is blessed with a lot of resources. It is the mining capital of Philippines. As you know, big businesses are coming over to take advantage of that,” Sigua said.

“Ironically, we are the poorest region but it is the mining capital,” said Magbanua.

“When mining is in our area, the first step our government will do is deploy their troops to give way to the mining equipment. They harass people to vacate their land.”

It can also turn violent. “One of our supporters was killed a couple of weeks ago by a paramilitary group.”

Magbanua pointed to the actions of President Rodrigo Durterte which she said were encouraging the violence.

“In the first six months that President Durterte was elected, we were hopeful for a change… he says he was a socialist, and a leftist, a pro-Lumad, and anti-mining.”

‘Changed his tune’
But in November 2017 when the APEC summit took place in Manila and President Trump visited the Philippines, Duterte seemed to change his mind.

“After the visit of Trump, he changed his tune. He welcomed all the investors to extract our natural resources. So he’s a puppet,” said Magbanua.

Sigua said: “The educators in Mindanao are being targeted as terrorists.

“The indigenous peoples are now being empowered and educated because of the schools. If they are empowered, they know their rights.”

Magbanua said: “Duterte was the one who says he would bomb our schools… Under his regime, 37 Lumads have been extra-judicially killed under martial law.”

Sigua said: “There is massive militarisation in the in area. Students are evacuating, the community is evacuating.”

“There is now militarisation in the indigenous communities,” she said. This was a reaction against the fear and tension caused by other military forces in the area.

‘Land is life’
Land is often at the center of the conflicts. “We believe that land is life,” says Magbanua.

“We, the indigenous people, need to protect it from mining and multinational corporations. We have to defend this for the next generation.

“We get all our needs from the mountains. From our medicines, our foods it is our supermarket and hospital.

“We call our land the land of promise. The greedy people want to take it away from us and convert it into banana plantations and mining areas.”

After getting her university degree, Fritzi Junance Magbanua committed herself to serving indigenous people.

“For six years now I’ve been teaching and monitoring my co-teachers, facilitating the training, and doing some psychosocial therapy with my students.”

Magbanua has never thought about doing anything different than being a volunteer teacher.

‘Indigenous need me’
“After I graduated, a lot of opportunities came my way but I turned them down. Somebody needs me and it is the indigenous people.”

“It is my commitment and responsibility to be with them and serve them without anything in return.”

A turning point for her was her personal connection to the Lumad’s struggle. “By blood I am also a Lumad. I see their plight, their hunger for education. When I have this knowledge, I just want to help and educate them also.”

I am a part of their struggle to defend their land. Their plight at Mindanao is to uphold their right to self-determination.”

Lorena Sigua is from Manila. She is a graduate of the the University of the Philippines and currently is a volunteer at the Education Development Institute (EDI) curriculum development based in Mindanao.

Sigua was inspired to get involved with Save Our Schools after witnessing the Lakbayan march, where indigenous peoples were protesting about their concerns.

Challenging life
Life as a volunteer teacher in Mindanao is challenging, said Magbanua.

“Once you are a volunteer, you are not just a teacher. You are a counsellor too. The community respects us and sees us as their hero because no body cares. Especially the government in our communities, but only us teachers and the institutions we came from.

Being a teacher for the indigenous peoples has a lot of sacrifices. We are not salary based. We receive NZ$100 a month.

The teachers often must travel to remote locations to reach local communities. “We are deployed in far flung areas.”

The furtherest place the network serves requires a two-day walk through a snaking path to travel to. “We cross one river 52 times. But it’s just a little sacrifice. For us we are ready to commit ourselves to the less fortunate who are hungry for education.”

The organisation demands no payment for their work. “Our education is free for all. We don’t ask for anything in return. In fact, we provide school supplies, toiletries to continue and sustain their education.

“On our island in Mindanao, there is no electricity, no signal. You have to walk an hour to search for a signal. You literally have to climb up a tree just to search for the signal.”

Asia-Pacific consultation
Kevin McBride, national co-ordinator of Pax Christi Aotearoa, hosted the talk.

“I had expectations it would be a good revelation of the situation in Mindanao of the Lumad people,” said McBride.

In December 2017, McBride represented Pax Christi in attending an Asia-Pacific Consultation in the Philippines.

With the New Zealand government being in touch with President Duterte, McBride believes New Zealand should try to do more to help.

“We do have opportunities to raise these issues and hold them to account for their activities. Shamefully, too often we don’t as it would affect our trade.”

Appeal for help
Every year the indigenous peoples go to the capital region in the Philippines to rally and send a message to the government about their concerns.

It is called a Lakbayan, said Sigua, and it was similar to the Hikoi taken by indigenous Māori in New Zealand.

“We are sharing a struggle with Māori,” said Magbanau.

“We are appealing to your government to support our calls to stop the attacks on the activists. The activists in the Philippines are being tagged as terrorists.”

Jean Bell is contributing editor of the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project. Additional reporting by Rahul Bhattarai who is an Auckland University of Technology student studying towards a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz