5 Aug 2013

Kaumatua design Ngai Tai iwi curriculum

8:02 pm on 5 August 2013

Kaumatua, or elders, in an eastern Bay of Plenty community are designing a Ngai Tai iwi curriculum to implement in schools in the district of Opotiki.

Kaumatua are already teaching life skills such as growing and curing kumara to students at Te Kura o Torere, from time to time.

The iwi curriculum is intended to cover such areas as the Maori language and Maori protocols.

A local kaumatua, Muriwai Jones, says elders have a responsibility to hand down core values and the knowledge base of an iwi.

She says it's a huge task, collecting the information from kaumatua.

Ms Jones says they are designing a Ngati Tai profile which can be used by rangatahi, or young people, throughout their lives.

She says the iwi curriculum has been noticed by the Ministry of Educaiton.