Province’s education fraternity mourns loss of senior officer

By ZACHERY PER
THE education fraternity in Chimbu is mourning the loss of one of its most senior officers over the weekend.
Former senior professional assistant and secondary school administrator Mogia Apakure, 63, succumbed to a stroke at the Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Kundiawa Hospital after being admitted on Thursday.
Apakure served the Education Department for more than 40 years as a teacher, school principal and a senior education officer.
He attended the then Du Elementary School in his native Sinasina in 1965 and proceeded to Mu Lutheran Primary School and Asaroka High School near Goroka, Eastern Highlands, in 1970.
Apakure enrolled at the then Goroka Teachers College in 1973 and graduated in 1977, with a diploma in high school teaching.
He started his teaching career at Manus High School before he was posted to Pomio High School in East New Britain.
Apakure returned to Chimbu in 1986 and took up the head teacher’s position at the newly-established Mt Wilhelm High School.
Apakure served as principal at Chuave, Doliba, Muaina, Kundiawa and Gumine high and secondary schools between 1990 and 2014.
In 1993 he enrolled for a degree programme in education psychology and administration at the University of Papua New Guinea.
Apakure was instrumental in establishing school infrastructure in Chimbu and moulded teachers to improve the quality of education in the province.