Students dance to kundu beat to strengthen culture

Momase

ELEMENTARY children came out in style, adorned in their traditional attires singing and dancing to the beat of kundu drums in the Simban village of Angoram district in East Sepik recently.
Every year the Simban Central Elementary School hosts a cultural show which brings together the people in the community.
The purpose of the event is to educate the students about their cultural heritage and traditions.
The teachers and members of the community teach the children about traditional singsing, canoe-making, garamut-making and carving and shaping handicraft.
This annual event took on a new meaning for the school this year as they celebrated their 10th year on Sept 13.
Teachers, the school’s board of management, staff and 186 students participated in the event, embracing their culture and reflecting on the journey they had as a school.
Since 2008 the elementary school has graduated 789 students from the second grade. The vernacular specialist teacher, Luk Mukok, outlined and discussed the history of the school.
He highlighted that Samban Elementary had come a long way from when it started in 2008.
Mukok said the school had started out in bush-material classrooms but now had permanent classrooms. He said from being an unrecognised school to become a registered government school with registered teachers had been quite a journey.
Mukok thanked Outreach International for its help in providing teacher training, building of the permanent classrooms and ongoing support of the school.